Battle Spot Trap Brothers & Others

[TH638]

INTRODUCTION

Helllo everyone! TH638 here. I've made a few RMTs in the past, but this is my first USUM RMT. During my tests of this team,
I had positive results in general, comfortably sitting at high 1300s to low 1400s( though this is currently not the case because of me trying other teams ),
and I think I would have went higher with more matches. Without further ado, let's get started.

TEAMBUILDING PROCESS

I started with the core of these two - Offensive Trapper Mega Gengar and Band Tyranitar. I didn't do this just to have the team name though,
they synergize well, like Gengar taking on Fighting and Fairy-type opponents and Tyranitar trapping Ghosts and Psychics, and breaking Sashes.

I immediately noticed the weakness to Ground-types( RIP Levitate ) like Garchomp, Excadrill and Landorus-T, so I chose Standard Celesteela to deal with these.
It can also take on Aegislash more comfortably than Gengar or Tyranitar in addition to beating Scarf Tapu Lele.

I added Lead Serperior to more comfortably deal with Ferrothorn, Offensive Tapu Fini, Rotom-W and Rain teams.
It can also Glare fast mons to help Gengar and Tyranitar trap them.

Blaziken was something that could tear my team apart, so I picked CM Tapu Fini to deal with it,
in addition to having another layer of protection against Mega Salamence.

Zapdos used to be here, but I noticed Tapu Koko being a nuisance even with so many things pressuring it
( Tyranitar can be worn down, Mega Gengar needs to win a Speed tie and Serperior needs a Leaf Storm boost),
so I added Nasty Plot Thundurus-T as my final member.

THE TEAM

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond
- Shadow Ball

The typical Offensive Trapper set. It can trap and remove many threats such as all Tapus (though he needs a bit of luck
with Koko and Lele has to be without Scarf), Offensive Mega Venusaur lacking Earthquake and Kartana.
Heatran can also be dealt with provided he has already taken some damage, and you can play mind games with Destiny Bond
to beat tricky opponents like Blaziken who insta-Protect. One more important thing to note is his matchups
vs. Fighting-types like Pheromosa and Mega Lucario, whom he can easily defeat once he's safely switched in, which Tyranitar greatly appreciates.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

This Tyranitar is capable of punching big holes in the enemy team, and most importantly can remove things like Charizard Y lacking Focus Blast,
Scarf Latios, Naganadel and Volcarona (in a lead scenario). Its matchup against Tapu Koko is good as well,
and it can beat most special attackers if they miss Focus Blast. Sand Stream is a double-edged sword,
as it breaks Sashes for Thundurus and Gengar, but it also breaks Serperior's Sash, which can be troublesome at times.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 244 HP / 148 Def / 116 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Celesteela checks and counters so many things it's ridiculous. Here, it is important to have versus threats like Mimikyu, almost all Landorus-T,
Garchomp, Kartana, Scarf Tapu Lele and, to some extent, Ferrothorn. The HP and Defense EVs allow Celesteela
to always take two HJKs from Mega Lopunny, and have a good chance of surviving two HJKs from non-boosting item Pheromosa in a row.
Remaining EVs dumped into SpD to better take on Tapu Lele and Aegislash.

Serperior @ Focus Sash
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Glare
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Serperior is capable of taking down Offensive Tapu Fini and non-LO or Specs Tapu Koko, which is useful. It can also defeat Mega Swampert,
who loses its Rain thanks to Tyranitar. In an emergency, it can Glare something like Mega Salamence or Mega Charizard X
to halt its sweep, which is appreciated by Mega Gengar, who proceeds to trap and kill them. Contrary and Glare go a long way
in softening the enemy team to the point where Gengar or Thundurus-T can sweep. In some cases, it can even sweep
the enemy by itself; all it needs is a good lead matchup.

Tapu Fini @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Taunt
- Moonblast
- Surf

Tapu Fini is here to check Substitute Mega Salamence, counter Fire types like Blaziken and Charizard X and block some specific
Pokemon like Hippowdon, but during my tests it has underperformed. I'm open to changes on this one - either one revolving
around a set change, or completely removing it.

Thundurus-Therian @ Electrium Z
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Nasty Plot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sludge Wave

Thundurus-T is the most reliable sweeper on the team, and it also checks Tapu Koko. Plus, it can slam Water and Flying types like Gyarados
,Celesteela and Charizard Y, which are threats to this team.I preferred Sludge Wave over Focus Blast here to OHKO most Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu,
and deal the most damage to Mega Venusaur at the same time.

CONCLUSION

I normally write a list of threats here, but Mega Charizard Y was the only big threat that came to my mind, and all other minor threats like Mega
Lopunny, Substitute Mega Salamence, Blaziken and Aegislash could take me down if I played incorrectly or had a wrong Pokemon
out at the wrong time. Aside from taking you guys' suggestions on how to improve the team, I'd like to ask your opinion on a
change I want to make, and that is turning the CB set on Tyranitar into the Specially-Defensive Support set on Smogon. By replacing Roar
with Earthquake on that set, Tyranitar is capable of much more comfortably dealing with Focus Blasts, and can support Thundurus-T and Gengar
with Stealth Rock support, in addition to doing the things CB is supposed to do as well.
That about sums up everything I wanted to say. I'm looking forward to your suggestions!
​

 

[cant say]

How have you been going with this team since posting it here? It looks pretty decent to me. You mentioned you were thinking of changing to the Smogon SpD set, do you mean this?

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry / Rockium Z / Darkinium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Atk / 148 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Rock Tomb
- Stealth Rock
- Roar / Earthquake

I was going to suggest this set actually, I think it would fit the team well since breaking Focus Sashes (particularly Breloom's) would really help. You might not even need the Lum Berry as that is mostly for Ttar on stall teams to better check Mega Gengar. Rockium Z could be cool to amp up Rock Tomb so you can actually KO something with this set if needed. I think Roar is better than Earthquake for all the annoying Baton Pass teams that Ttar is great at checking. Earthquake is cool for Koko but Z Rock Tomb does the same thing, although you might need Earthquake for Heatran since you don't have much else for it.

Definitely change Sitrus Berry to Wiki Berry on Fini. It's bulky enough that getting it into 25% and activating the berry is so easy it's become the standard over Sitrus now.

If you want a little more bulk on the team, you could try an Assault Vest on Thundurus-T with Volt Switch or Focus Blast over Nasty Plot. Those sets sometimes run bulkier EVs but I haven't got a spread on me, maybe someone else can comment here with one!

 

[TH638]

I usually don't stick to one team for very long, but this is one of my favorites and has been doing quite nicely. I did switch to the support set with EQ, but used a Groundium Z instead of Rockium Z, which can OHKO Tapu Koko at full health, and greatly hurt Aegislash and opposing TTar to the point where they are unable to be the walls they're supposed to, or even knock them out with minimal prior damage.
I switched to Sitrus on Fini exactly because it's bulky: it always lives with around 30% HP and doesn't activate the Berry. Maybe it was a bad luck streak though, I will try Wiki a bit more.
AV Thundurus_T seems interesting! I'll definitely give it a shot, since it would perform much better against Tapu Koko, Heatran, CharY and opposing Thundurus-T.