OU Kartana (Choice Scarf)

[p2]

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Aerial Ace / Defog
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Leaf Blade is Kartana's strongest STAB move, providing solid neutral coverage against most of the tier and mainly hitting fast Water-types such as Keldeo and Greninja. Smart Strike covers Dragon- and Grass-types such as Latios and Tangrowth, and it hits Fairy-types such as Tapu Lele and Magearna much harder than any other move. Sacred Sword hits Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Magnezone, and Bisharp while chipping into the HP of other Steel-types like Mega Scizor and Celesteela. Aerial Ace allows Kartana to deal hefty damage to Volcarona, revenge killing after little prior damage, as well as hitting Mega Heracross, Mega Pinsir, and the more uncommon Buzzwole very hard. Defog can be used as an emergency option to clean entry hazards on teams pressured by Spikes. Giga Impact is a more reliable option for revenge killing Volcarona than Aerial Ace, doing 95% minimum to standard sets; however, the recharge turn makes Kartana extremely easy to remove from play.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature and Choice Scarf allows Kartana to outspeed everything up to opposing Choice Scarf Kartana, which includes Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Keldeo, Adamant Mega Swampert in rain, non-Choice Scarf Greninja, and Mega Alakazam. Maximum Attack investment is used to make Kartana's revenge killing as easy as possible.

Usage Tips
========

Choice Scarf Kartana should only be used to revenge kill threats including the aforementioned ones such as Choice Scarf Keldeo, Greninja, and Tapu Koko. Avoid switching it into attacks unless it's one Kartana can handle easily such as Choice Scarf Terrakion's Stone Edge. Completely avoid switching Kartana into special attackers because its horrible Special Defense leaves it OHKOed by even resisted attacks. If Kartana is useless in a matchup, such as against stall due to the prevalence of Skarmory, it is best used as fodder to allow wallbreakers and stallbreakers a free switch in.

Team Options
========

Choice Scarf Kartana excels at pressuring offensive teams, but it struggles heavily against bulkier teams. Pairing Kartana with wallbreakers such as Tapu Lele, Mega Medicham, Mega Heracross, Swords Dance Landorus-T, and Choice Band Zygarde helps ease this issue, while Kartana takes on offensive teams that the aforementioned Pokemon can struggle a lot with. Magnezone can trap Mega Scizor, Celesteela, and Skarmory, which completely shut Choice Scarf Kartana down. Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, and Heatran can also be used to pressure bulky Steel-types, but they are much less consistent options than outright trapping. Entry hazard support, mainly in the form of Spikes and Toxic Spikes, is massively appreciated by Kartana because it makes Kartana extremely difficult to switch into late-game when everything has been significantly weakened. Spikes users like Greninja and Ash-Greninja are the best options for this. Toxapex works for Toxic Spikes. Avoid using Choice Scarf Kartana as a sole Volcarona answer, as it isn't strong enough to outright OHKO without Giga Impact; pairing it with priority users such as Choice Band Zygarde and Ash-Greninja can remedy this somewhat. Alternative Volcarona countermeasures such as Mantine are decent options too. Other Steel-types such as Magearna and Celesteela can make up for Kartana's defensive shortcomings as a Steel-type and provide an actual switch-in for threats such as Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam; they can also take on faster Choice Scarf users such as Latios and Greninja with ease.

 

[Colonel M]

We (well mostly TDK) discussed adding Giga Impact in Discord so we're good to go here.

spikes support is gr8 with this mon too because its legit impossible to switch into late game with spikes up. tspikes too pressure neutral mons like tang well

Just flesh out examples here. Probably Greninja, maybe :thapex:.

Bless that Kartana finally got some love.

1/3

 

[Gary]

QC 2/3

Flesh.

 

[Hootie]

ues x 3 / 3

 

[Lumari]

remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/2

was this quick enough

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Aerial Ace / Defog
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Leaf Blade is Kartana's strongest STAB move, (comma) and has providing solid neutral coverage against most of the tier and mainly hits hitting fast Water-types such as Keldeo and Greninja. Smart Strike covers Dragon- and Grass-types such as Latios and Tangrowth, and it also hits Fairy-types such as Tapu Lele and Magearna much harder than any other move. Sacred Sword hits Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Magnezone, and Bisharp while chipping into other Steel-types like Mega Scizor and Celesteela. Aerial Ace allows Kartana to deal hefty damage to Volcarona, revenge killing after little prior damage, (comma) Aerial Ace also hits as well as hitting Mega Heracross, Mega Pinsir, and the more uncommon Buzzwole very hard. Defog can be used as an emergency option to clean entry hazards on teams pressured by Spikes. Giga Impact is a more reliable option for revenge killing Volcarona than Aerial Ace, doing does 95% minimum to standard Volcarona and is a more reliable option for revenge killing than Aerial Ace sets; (flows better within the paragraph) (SC) however, (AC) the recharge turn makes Kartana extremely easy to remove from play.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly Nature and Choice Scarf allows Kartana to outspeed everything up to opposing Choice Scarf Kartana, this which includes Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Keldeo, Adamant Mega Swampert in rain, and others such as non-Choice Scarf Greninja, and Mega Alakazam. Maximum Attack investment is used to make Kartana hit as hard as possible to make revenge killing as easy as possible.

Usage Tips
========

Choice Scarf Kartana should only be used to revenge kill threats including the aforementioned ones such as Choice Scarf Keldeo, Greninja, and Tapu Koko. Avoid hard switching it into moves unless it's an attack Kartana can handle easily such as Choice Scarf Terrakion's Stone Edge. Completely avoid switching Kartana into special attackers because it's its horrible Special Defense leaves it OHKOed even by resisted attacks. If Kartana is useless in a matchup, such as against stall game, due to the prevalence of Skarmory, (optional / might need tweaking if it drops info, more concise) Kartana it is best used as fodder to allow wallbreakers and stallbreakers in instead, this is mostly because Kartana will not be able to damage stall teams due to Skarmory being so common on stall.

Team Options
========

Choice Scarf Kartana excels at pressuring offensive teams, but it struggles heavily against bulkier teams. Pairing Kartana with wallbreakers such as Tapu Lele, Mega Medicham, Mega Heracross, Swords Dance Landorus-T, and Choice Band Zygarde helps ease this issue, while Kartana takes on offensive teams that the aforementioned Pokemon can struggle a lot with. Magnezone can trap Mega Scizor, Celesteela, and Skarmory, (AC) which completely shut down Choice Scarf Kartana. Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, and Heatran can also be used to pressure bulky Steel-types, but they are much less consistent options than outright trapping. Entry hazard support, mainly in the form of Spikes and Toxic Spikes, (AC) are is massively appreciated by Kartana because it makes it extremely difficult to switch into late-game when everything has been significantly weakened. Spikes users such as Greninja and Ash-Greninja are the best options for this. Toxapex works for Toxic Spikes. Avoid using Choice Scarf Kartana as a sole Volcarona answer, (AC) as it isn't strong enough to outright OHKO without Giga Impact; (SC) pairing it with priority users such as Choice Band Zygarde and Ash-Greninja can remedy this somewhat. Alternative Volcarona countermeasures such as Mantine is also a are decent options too. Other Steel-types such as Magearna and Celesteela can make up for Kartana's defensive shortcomings as a Steel-type and actually provide a switchin switch-in for threats such as Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam; (SC) they can also take on faster Choice Scarf users such as Latios and Greninja with ease.

 

[CryoGyro]

GP 2/2
remove add

Hide

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Leaf Blade
move 2: Smart Strike
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Aerial Ace / Defog
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Leaf Blade is Kartana's strongest STAB move, providing solid neutral coverage against most of the tier and mainly hitting fast Water-types such as Keldeo and Greninja. Smart Strike covers Dragon- and Grass-types such as Latios and Tangrowth, and it also hits Fairy-types such as Tapu Lele and Magearna much harder than any other move. Sacred Sword hits Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Magnezone, and Bisharp while chipping into the HP of other Steel-types like Mega Scizor and Celesteela. Aerial Ace allows Kartana to deal hefty damage to Volcarona, revenge killing after little prior damage, as well as hitting Mega Heracross, Mega Pinsir, and the more uncommon Buzzwole very hard. Defog can be used as an emergency option to clean entry hazards on teams pressured by Spikes. Giga Impact is a more reliable option for revenge killing Volcarona than Aerial Ace, doing 95% minimum to standard sets; however, the recharge turn makes Kartana extremely easy to remove from play.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature and Choice Scarf allows Kartana to outspeed everything up to opposing Choice Scarf Kartana, which includes Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Keldeo, Adamant Mega Swampert in rain, non-Choice Scarf Greninja, and Mega Alakazam. Maximum Attack investment is used to make Kartana hit as hard as possible to make Kartana's revenge killing as easy as possible.

Usage Tips
========

Choice Scarf Kartana should only be used to revenge kill threats including the aforementioned ones such as Choice Scarf Keldeo, Greninja, and Tapu Koko. Avoid hard switching it into moves attacks unless it's an attack one Kartana can handle easily such as Choice Scarf Terrakion's Stone Edge. Completely avoid switching Kartana into special attackers because its horrible Special Defense leaves it OHKOed by even by resisted attacks. If Kartana is useless in a matchup, such as against stall due to the prevalence of Skarmory, it is best used as fodder to allow wallbreakers and stallbreakers in instead a free switch in.

Team Options
========

Choice Scarf Kartana excels at pressuring offensive teams, but it struggles heavily against bulkier teams. Pairing Kartana with wallbreakers such as Tapu Lele, Mega Medicham, Mega Heracross, Swords Dance Landorus-T, and Choice Band Zygarde helps ease this issue, while Kartana takes on offensive teams that the aforementioned Pokemon can struggle a lot with. Magnezone can trap Mega Scizor, Celesteela, and Skarmory, which completely shut down Choice Scarf Kartana down. Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, and Heatran can also be used to pressure bulky Steel-types, but they are much less consistent options than outright trapping. Entry hazard support, mainly in the form of Spikes and Toxic Spikes, is massively appreciated by Kartana because it makes it Kartana extremely difficult to switch into late-game when everything has been significantly weakened. Spikes users such as like Greninja and Ash-Greninja are the best options for this. Toxapex works for Toxic Spikes. Avoid using Choice Scarf Kartana as a sole Volcarona answer, as it isn't strong enough to outright OHKO without Giga Impact; pairing it with priority users such as Choice Band Zygarde and Ash-Greninja can remedy this somewhat. Alternative Volcarona countermeasures such as Mantine are decent options too. Other Steel-types such as Magearna and Celesteela can make up for Kartana's defensive shortcomings as a Steel-type and actually provide an actual switch-in for threats such as Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam; they can also take on faster Choice Scarf users such as Latios and Greninja with ease.

 

[Colonel M]

Now that's what I call teamwork.

Uploaded and good to go!

Also quite the record - roughly less than 2 hours to complete!