CAP's 2nd Annual Secret Santa

BP

Beers and Steers
is a Contributor to Smogon
Approved by HeaLnDeaL and the gang

Sign up Deadline: December 10
Building Deadline: January 1

How to join: So, I'm pretty sure that most of you know what the concept of Secret Santa is, it's basically anonymous gift giving; in our case all the gifts are all replaced with Pokemon teams, think of it as a Teambuilding Workshop only everyone asks for and contributes teams, and it's all anonymous (until the very end). If you'd like to join in on the fun, make sure to send me a private message on Smogon writing about what core you'd like somebody to build around and a simple reply to this message. Please feel free to drop a post saying anything here in this thread to let others know that you will be participating, just remember if you don't send me that PM I'll pretend you don't exist! Sending in a request also means that you'll be building around someone else's core as well, so please don't sign up if you're not going to actually be able to finish the team, because you're just making things less enjoyable for others as well as making things more difficult for me. So please, don't do that! Anyways, once we reach the sign up deadline you'll get a PM from me containing the core you'll need to build around, which upon completion you'll need to send back to me. Yup, it's as simple as that!

General Rules:-The request/finished team must be sent via forum PM to me,Broken Phobias-Letting me know on Discord/IRC/ won't do the trick!

-Do NOT tell anybody what request you got, or what request you sent - Please don't do this it's called Secret Santa for a reason

-You may change your request at any time, until sign ups deadline - So you don't have to tear your hair out thinking of something. However, Once the deadline for sign ups has transpired, it'll be too late for any changes!

-Get your team done!!! - As I've already said, don't join if you can't actually finish your team in time. there is someone else trying hard to finish the the team that you have requested, so try to respect their effort as well as the person whose request you received.

-If you want to be really awesome and cover up for any stupid slackers feel free to send me a PM!

-Just so everyone knows a core is made up 2-3 Pokemon no more than that though.

-And please don't be afraid to join in, if you don't think your team building skills are good enough, I'm always there to help, so send me updates when you feel like it.

Have fun and good luck!
 
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BP

Beers and Steers
is a Contributor to Smogon
Signups are over and I will be PMing everyone their cores to build around. Once you have finished building your said team reply below and make sure to tag who its for.


You must submit teams by January 2nd or we will all be sad :(

When Doing so you need the following:an Importable Version, a Brief description, Replay's are encouraged but optional
 

Deck Knight

Blast Off At The Speed Of Light! That's Right!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Airwind

Ferrothorn + Celesteela + Arghonaut:

Thistletoe (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes

White Christmas (Celesteela) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 88 SpD / 68 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Heavy Slam
- Air Slash

Pirate Santa (Arghonaut) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 204 HP / 96 Atk / 120 Def / 88 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Toxic
- Circle Throw

Party Favor (Blacephalon) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Trick

Jubilee Roll (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Defog

Christmas Cotton (Cyclohm) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shield Dust
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
- Heal Bell


So it took a couple of iterations for me to be satisfied with this team, although it does seem to have some weaknesses I wasn't able to patch up.




Starting with the core, it has serious problems with three major CAP mons, Tomohawk, Pyroak, and Mollux. Offensive Tomohawk just shreds the core to bits and Defensive Mollux either requires Arghonaut to run EQ or to address it outside the core. Running Air Slash on Celesteela and modifying its EVs and Nature so it outsped Pyroak mitigated the Pyroak problem significantly and also gave Celesteela a good neutral option in most situations where it couldn't just Heavy Slam.

The best answer to the other threats was a Pokemon that could preserve stacked hazards, loved residual damage, and could provide some offensive presence to the team. Scarf Blacephalon was basically perfect for this task - it could take a resisted special attack (once), could hard read into Rapid Spin, and because CAP has so many 4x Ground weak Pokemon, HP Ground is the natural choice to donk them after some residual damage. For the 4th move I decided on Trick instead of Fire Blast because FB was just too unreliable. Blacephalon put in ridiculous amounts of work backed by this core and it's just ridiculous to deal with if you can successfully hazard stack or get it in on a Leech Seeded opponent.

My first attempt at the team had Ferrothorn and Arghonaut as a hazard-stacking core with Ferro providing rocks and Arghonaut providing Spikes, however the problem with CAP is that there is so much Fighting + Flying, Fighting + Fairy, and Fire + Fairy coverage that it was really, really hard to get hazards up consistently. I also started off with a more physically defensive Celesteela but later switched to SpD when I realized I was switching into more Hurricanes and Focus Blasts than Stone Edges.

Arghonaut's final set still has Circle Throw for phazing (because Unaware Argho is an amazing phazer), but the other slots are filled with utility options because, devoid of Life Orb or Choice Items, opponents have a really difficult time breaking Ferro + Steela + Argho + Cyclohm. The Attack EVs gave Circle Throw a better Calc against Stratagem, another mon whose coverage can be problematic for the core. Honestly, Ferro / Steela / Argho sounds great until you realize there's so much Fire + Grass coverage in CAP...

The last two slots were the hardest. I tried a combination of Fat Mence and Milotic first as a makeshift Defogger that could OHKO Cyclohm, and Milotic punished Defog pretty severely, but the two didn't really hold up. Eventually I decided on fast + bulky Landorus-T with Strealth Rock and Defog and Volt Switch / Ice Beam Cyclohm, because, really, there's so much bulk between Ferro, Steela, and Argho that having a Volt-turn core to get Blachephalon in more safely seemed like the best option.

Replays from final team:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cap-679332776

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cap-679388581

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cap-679397322

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cap-679413566
 
snake_rattler
1514304654041.jpg
1514304680871.jpg

Hawlucha @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- High Jump Kick
- Fire Punch

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Pajantom @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Comatose
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spirit Shackle
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake
- Substitute

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Volkraken @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
- U-turn

Colossoil @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch



Ok the core that you gave me to me was easy to build around but is was weak to colossoil or any bulky ground type so I decide to put Landorus-T which give a really good support for the team resisting atacks from garchomp, colossoil, excadrill, etc and Can put the rocks Resulting a nice inclusion to the team due we already got the grund coverage.

With all that now we are weak to bulky fire type such ass ferro and scizor so what is the best answer for those pokemon? Volkraken obviusly and now with volkraken we have a revenge killer and a sweeper special beacuse we don't want to get walled by a strong defensive wall like thangrowth. The weakness of ground, rock, and electric got coveraged by landorus-t so we don't need to put another pokemon to coverage volkraken. I decide to give hidden power grass for gastrodon and for arghonaut

Now we need a spinner and a pokemon who can resist strong special atacks and the answer is colossoil give it a really nice spinner and priority user who can destroy any fast ghost type like kitsunoh, gengar and blacephaton.

I decide to give fire punch to hawlucha beacuse hawlucha need to sweep and with fire punch can hit kitsunoh which is a huge problem for the team if the playing right.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cap-679785743
 

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snake

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CAP Co-Leader
Pajantom @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Comatose
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spirit Shackle
- Outrage
- Substitute
- Toxic

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Trick

Cyclohm @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam

Arghonaut @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Circle Throw
- Spikes
- Scald
- Recover

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

Pyroak @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Synthesis


Happy New Year DK! Start off the new year with a bang - a Choice Specs Draco Meteor type of bang! I've had some decent success with this team but between the time limit and QC work I'm forced to stop my testing. Pajantom + Cyclohm was a little difficult to build with due to the Fairy-types running around everywhere, but what's pretty cool is that Pajantom is a perfect switch-in to Chansey, one of the very few Pokemon that can stand up to Choice Specs Cyclohm.

I want to start with a different focus on this team, which is the "defensive" core. Cyclohm and Mega Scizor was known for its effectiveness in Gen 6, and with Volt Switch, the core becomes a really solid VoltTurn core. The only issue now is that the core is quite passive and I wanted to try out Choice Specs Cyclohm, so pairing these Pokemon makes Choice Specs a nice surprise. Mega Scizor provides some nice priority, which Cyclohm appreciates for getting KOes and also provides hazard removal.

I then picked Arghonaut and Pyroak. This is where I wish I had more time to test. Arghonaut functions as a nice spiker, phazer, and special tank, and Pyroak covers Tapu Koko and Kartana pretty well, sets Rocks, and spreads burns.

Back to Pajantom - I picked up Sub + Dragonium Z Outrage to lure and beat out most Pursuit users, which helps Cyclohm find more switch-in opportunities. While Pyroak and Mega Scizor might seem like a foul proof answers to Colossoil, just having the lure option was very helpful, and the general nuke works very well. Toxic wears down other switch-ins like Tomohawk and Pyroak as well, which lets Cyclohm and Blacephalon pick up kills.

Finally, the team needed a scarfer and sweeper, and I could not think of a better one than Blacephalon. Very easy to start a sweep with how well this team can chip down the opposing team. Sorry that this team is not my best work, but I figured I'd take a shot at balance since I haven't built with the archetype in awhile. I'll be working on the team for awhile and try to make it better. Enjoy!
 
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