What is this Trickery? (LC RMT)

What is this Trickery? (LC RMT Peaked #1)

Little Cup RMT What is Trickery?


Team Overview:

This team is my first RMT so I made it a detailed one, maybe the most detailed little cup RMT in history.
I made this team with TruetoCheese, with help from Lucifer for help testing and Nails for recommendations.
This team doesn’t really have a peak, as I didn’t play absolutely loads, but it did get myself to no1 with a simple 1507, quite low I must say, and no13 with 1370 or something, both of which has phases and tests done to them, with the 1507 using the most and the 1370 with the testing, but both were still rising before I decided to RMT.
As a Trick Room team, it normally comes to a surprise, thus meaning that the more you know about the team, the pokemon inside its core, you soon realize how to defeat it.
At this point you may be thinking, Trick Room only lasts for 5 turns, without any way to extend it, lets just see about it in team.
But first lets see how it was made:

Team Building:

Every time a Trick Room team is made, it is usually because the game has changed from bulky sweepers eg Chinchou to Scarfed users such as Gastly. But at this moment in time, it’s all about set up, Scarfed users are one every team, but is only one or two, not the three or four like namely Fuzznip used to get to the top.
And so we need to deal with these set up threats, trick room shuts down many set up pokemon, especially if they are based around speed, and strikes back, hard.

And so we start with the team:



I decided I need a steady lead, something that could almost always set up Trick Room for the rest of the team, Gastly, the prime in Ghost types seemed like a perfect candidate, I had used before on my first attempt at Trick Room, and did it’s job “o k”, but suddenly I realized about the common lead nowadays, back then Anorith and the like were around to give openings, the only thing Gastly is good at is stopped Fake-Out, and it still takes a ton from a Bite of Meowth, and so Gastly is dismissed. I looked towards a more bulky pokemon, something that could be in the “core” of the team but will work well as a lead, then suddenly a friend on shoddy, I believe it was Nails, said he had used Bronzor as his first Trick Room lead and it also did “o k”. And so I looked into Bronzor more, noticing it’s typing is near perfect, bulk is one of the best in the metagame for mixed hits, and it stops the most common lead at the moment: Snover. All these combined saw Bronzor as a great pokemon to lead off a Trick Room team, not to mention Bronzor has been seen as a Choice Band Trick Lead thanks to the help of Hellmonkey, even if he did retire ( =’[ ).



With Bronzor as lead I needed to cover Houndour weakness, as it is the most common lead that can really stop Bronzor in its tracks. With the information of knowing what set Houndour runs, is thought about it hard, and chose Slowpoke, this blob is one hell of a machine, with sturdy stats and defensively capable of taking a sucker punch or two, especially with Slack Off, it can stall out Houndour while setting up Trick Room for a perfectly timed 4 turn assault. Slowpoke also has a reasonable attack stat, and with powerful STAB moves such as Aqua Tail and Zen Headbutt it really does to its job well. Slowpoke is also one of the top Fighting counters, thus helping Bronzor deal with the Machop lead and other fighting pokemon further down the team such as Croagunk and Mankey, though have to be careful of U-Turn.



Bronzor and Slowpoke seem like the “perfect couple” so now I look towards a sweeper. However, this needs to be no ordinary sweeper, I felt it needed to be the opposite to Slowpoke, with powerful Special Type moves to destroy the opponent, still be able to set up Trick Room, as I felt a Trick Room team needs to find it’s Core before it’s Sweepers. It should also have as few weaknesses possible, a simple answer to these asks was Porygon. Porygon is a pokemon should be on all good Trick Room teams, looking into why explains even more. Porygon is a mixture of Porygon 2 and Porygon Z almost, with a very high special attack and quite superb bulk for the little cup metagame. Porygon used to be lacklustre, with it’s key Tri Attack and Recover being banned, but with help from the Pomeg Glitch introduced, it really gives a basis of what Porygon can do, not to mention access to a wide range of extra special attacks including, BoltBeam and Shadow Ball.



With Porygon only having one weakness, fighting I felt I needed some assistance. Fighting type is one powerful attacking force, with many teams having two Fighting types, to cream the opponent once they have taken down the teams counter. And so I realized I needed another, what with Porygon being easy bait, and Bronzor not being able to strike back hard (4 move syndrome with Psychic being left out) the team had a flaw so far. I decided a ghost was needed, bulky, can provide other forms of support to the team, and be another and last member of the team able to use Trick Room, thus the “core” is made up. I found all these in the shape of Duskull. Duskull is the bulkiest of all ghost type pokemon in OU Little Cup and with it’s ability to take a quite easily, and to Will-O-Wisp to cripple the Physical metagame (which is what Little Cup is leaning toward) it seemed the perfect match up for the team. Not to mention with Porygon in the wings as a normal type, immunity sets in, sometimes game changing when predicted correctly. Duskull is also a proud holder of Priority, to which it uses with great success, Trick Room teams can often be broken down if they lack priority, but some of your own can normally stop this.



With the “core” complete I looked towards my sweepers, there was only one real option, my team lacked something to take Electric types aimed at Slowpoke, and a real Physical Sweeper that utilizes the Trick Room to the extreme, that candidate, to which is on most Trick Room teams is Cubone. Cubone has the highest attack without being stuck into one move (by Choice Band) apart from Life Orb Adamant Remoraid, but even then I believe it is a tie. And Remoraid loses Accuracy or HP depending if it hits or not. Cubone also has the proper bulk required to be a useful Trick Room member. Even one of its main counters Gligar gets KOed by Ice Beam (except Yache), even Bronzor with Max HP + Def can’t take more than one Fire Punch (if that), while only doing a 2 Hit KO at the very least as retaliation with Hidden Power Ice etc. Cubone has a masterful 30 attack, which Koes almost all pokemon after Stealth Rock damage, apart from gimmicks such as Baltoy and rare variations of the aforementioned walls.



Cubone is weak to priority, something that Trick Room teams can often be as previously mentioned, and so I believed I needed a super powerful Priority user that packs a huge punch under Trick Room. There was only one candidate in my eyes:
EEVEE!!!
As many of you know, I’m a fanatic about Eevee, and used it oh so often, and it’s come back for more. Boasting it’s amazing Adaptability Frustration can KO such pokemon as Offensive Gligar after Stealth Rock, something that only super effective moves are said to accomplish. Even after Trick Room is down, Life Orb Brave Nature Quick Attack STAB Adaptability obliterates such pokemon that harm the rest of my team such as Houndour, KOing after Stealth Rock with easy. Eevee isn’t that frail, with stable stats all around. Eevee gives the team the much needed priority, and breaks through Defensive Walls, one of it’s key counters, Aron cannot deal with a x4 super effective Hidden Power Ground, but we’ll get to the details later.

The Analysis:

Oh and please note, the Nicknames might be a bit bad, TruetoCheese and me did them in a rush.

The Lead:



BENZENE RING (Bronzor) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP/4 Atk/148 Def/4 SAtk/68 SDef
Sassy nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Flash Cannon

In many teams, the lead is to designed to gain momentum and try and beat the opposing lead. A very common lead like this is Meowth. However, as this is Trick Room, momentum also comes slowly, and so I have a lead designed to be able to take hits from the opposing lead, and set up trick room. It does this very well against most leads, the common leads that do beat Bronzor without it able to do much of anything are Houndour and Machop. Houndour KOes with Overheat/Fire Blast, while Machop has its ultimate confusion, which I always get perfectly on my own forehead x_x. I have thought about using Heat Proof, but Bronzor is a very key core member, even though it seems just a suicide lead sometimes, and Immunity with Levitate stops the odd Diglett being wise and trying out Earthquake, especially if it isn’t the first battle played against an opponent.

The Core:



No-Brainer (Slowpoke) (F) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 196 HP/156 Atk/156 Def
Brave nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Aqua Tail
- Zen Headbutt
- Slack Off

The set is pretty self-explanatory. Trick Room is what this team is based around; Aqua Tail and Zen Headbutt provide excellent STAB to which the attacking types Water and Psychic actually cover a huge amount. Slack off is a healing move which are prone to be rubbish in Little Cup unless it’s Leech Seed has actually been amazing, it just has been somehow, getting me out of tricky spots with the immense hit points and defensive capabilities Slowpoke has, the Brave nature and 156 evs in attack give a fierce offensive pokemon too surprisingly, and as a water type it covers what Cubone and Eevee fail to if needed.



Trojan (Porygon) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Trace
EVs: 236 HP/36 Def/236 SAtk
Quiet nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Porygon has some of the perfect stats for a Trick Room member, and access to set it up too it does its job very well. Unfortunately the job it has is rather gimmicky as of late, as the core of Bronzor, Slowpoke, and Duskull seems to be gripping the way I play. Porygon’s attacks provide support with Trick Room, deal with Bulky water types that can ruin the team with Thunderbolt and have a backup move of STAB Tri Attack to give a formidable force. Even with these great points about Porygon I believe it is the only pokemon on my team that can be really changed, this being that Recover is swapped, as Porygon just doesn’t have time or the resistances of only one immunity to utilize it. I think Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Fight and Ice Beam are the choices, but as of late I don’t know which to choose. This is where I need someone to say how each one could fair if they were replaced, or why keep Recover, as at the moment I haven’t been able to use it, is this just the way I play?



Face Of Bo (Duskull) (F) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 196 HP/116 Atk/36 Def/116 SDef
Brave nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Will-o-wisp
- Shadow Sneak
- Frustration

The final jigsaw piece in the core, fits together nicely with only Dark Types causing a problem in the weakness department, it’s just lucky there are only 3 dark pokemon, I’m sure if Murkrow was still around this team would be useless, but that’s why Murkrow was banned. The team is now weak to Ghost types, no matter what you say about normal type giving immunity, ghosts usually carry Hidden Power Fight as well, with this in mind I kept a Brave Nature to give 13 attack overall, 13 and 14 attack both actually do the same as they are rounded funny, this does stop when you use frustration or there is more hit points involved, but the 13 to 14 attack gives no boost in KOing Gastly, to which Duskull can do 66% of the time with Stealth Rock up and 90% of the time if it takes life orb damage, this can stop Gastly from sweeping, although Porygon and Bronzor can both take a hit and to serious damage back but they take a real ton as of Gastly with an amazing 20 spec attack stat with a plus nature.

The Sweepers:



NumbSkull (Cubone) (F) @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 196 HP/196 Atk/76 Def/36 SDef
Brave nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Double-edge
- Fire Punch
- Ice Beam

Often seen to be THE Trick Room sweeper, this spot was tried out with Larvitar, who with Toxic Orb/Flame Orb giving a 1.5 boost it seemed ok, but it in battle Larvitar just didn’t live up to expectations, Cubone easily taking prime role. Cubone not only has 30 base attack after Thick Clubs effect mentioned in the team building, but is quite bulky too, thus priority moves do not usually harm him, except if they are super effective. Earthquake is huge STAB power, plus how can you resist shaking the Earth. Double-edge is for quite excellent coverage, plus Cubone’s Rock Head ability comes into play to take no recoil. Fire Punch hits Bronzor and other Grass/Ice Types such as Snover. Ice Beam is purely for Gligar to which it KOes easily, it doesn’t get Ice Punch unfortunately.



NEON*STAR* (Eevee) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 236 HP/236 Atk/36 Def
Brave nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
- Bite
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Don't let it's looks fool you, Eevee is one hell of a Sweeper. It’s super ability Adaptability makes all STAB attacks x2 rather than x1.5, making the Frustration a whopping 200 base power attack, that’s like trying to take a self-destruct every turn, it’s just not possible, even Bronzor, Eevee’s main defensive counter has to take a 100bp attack. Bite is for Ghost types that stop the awesome power but is generally not used. Hidden Power Ground is purely for Aron, it is far superior than Hidden Power Fighting as it not only hits Croagunk if they decide to switch, it means Eevee can have an extra defense point as 36 ups it one. Frustration doesn’t only obliterate offensive Gligar, it does 80<% to Wynaut, meaning a well played Quick Attack then Frustration gives a quite easy KO as Eevee’s Hite Points are actually reasonably high. And the most important thing of all about Eevee: it’s soooo Cute!

How do you play a Trick Room team?

Well, I say the way you play a team, as just a reference for if you want to see how a Trick Room works, or if you’re against one how to play against one.
My Team; much like many Trick Room teams I’m sure, is played to always try and keep Trick Room up, it is normally only down for one or two turns as their revenge killers take advantage of the turn without Trick Room.
The way this team should be played is to try and use immunities to keep all pokemon alive, only sacrificing if you meet a threat that you cannot afford to let set up. The Core is also designed this way, that even if one pokemon goes down, the core should be able to stay strong, with Bronzor adding to the core with it’s bulk as well.
The team has four pokemon that can set up Trick Room, this means a comeback is often likely if you failed to sweep with one of the sweepers of Cubone and Eevee (perhaps they met a Priority user, or a pokemon that walls their moves) this is why it is quite important to try and take down counters to the sweepers, so even if you are 2-4 down or something, one swift Trick Room + Sweeper = 2-0 win sometimes, with your opponent speechless.
You should also allow core members to “kick the bucket” if they have just set up trick room, thus giving up to 4 turns of ultimate sweep for either Cubone or Eevee, often halving the opponents side giving you two pokemon advantage many a time.

I hope it was detailed enough :p
Thanks for reading :)
 
The Threat List:

Colour Coded in order or how dangerous they are, much like a traffic light, Green being no real threat, Orange being a threat sometimes and Red being a oh crap what now moment every time.

Key:
XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Please note that most threats are done as if Trick Room wasn’t allowed to set up, or is now down thus giving a fairer way to see how the Team Deals with threats, as I could just say “Cubone Obliterates and Eevee Revenge Kills” for every single pokemon just about, well it would save a lot of time instead of writing it all detailed.

Anorith – Duskull can Will-O-Wisp and, Bronzor can Flash Cannon, Slowpoke can Aqua Tail under Trick Room.

Aron – Duskull can Will-O-Wisp, Slowpoke can KO with Aqua Tail, Bronzor can KO with Earthquake, Cubone can KO with Earthquake too, Eevee can KO with Hidden Power Ground.

Bagon – Bronzor can stop it, Duskull can Will-O-Wisp too, Eevee can KO with Quick Attack after Stealth Rock damage (not always though), Cubone can survive an Outrage and KO back, Slowpoke is the same but can set up Trick Room if it isn’t down while she is at it.

Bronzor – Cubone doesn’t take any real significant damage while KOing back with Fire Punch or the rare Heatproof Bronzor with Earthquake for an easy two hit KO, Duskull can wear it down, same with Slowpoke, both taking very minimal damage, toxic Bronzor of all things could mean slight trouble as Trick Room doesn’t like wasting turns switching.

Buizel – Duskull can Will-O-Wisp, Slowpoke can shut it down and KO with Zen Headbutt after Stealth Rock damage, Eevee can nearly do the same with Quick Attack, Porygon can Trick Room and KO with Thunderbolt.

Carvanha – Whatever I do, I do not let it get a free substitute, Porygon is my best bet after normally having to sacrifice Slowpoke or Duskull, Eevee can KO with Quick Attack, but then it does leave itself open for an easy revenge kill, it almost will always get a KO against my team, even worse if it is played to switch in and out.

Chinchou – As of it’s incredible STAB moves, the way I deal with it is normally Bronzor, Bronzor can Trick Room, then fire off Earthquake for super effective damage, Duskull has high special defense and can do decent damage with Frustration, once again Eevee can come to the rescue and strike for 60<% damage on most variants with Quick Attack, though if Trick Room is up, Cubone can easily come in on a Thunderbolt aimed at Slowpoke and Earthquake or Double-Edge depending on what I know about the opponents team.

Cranidos – Normally Scarfed and so can be stopped with Bronzor if it has chosen Stone Edge or Slowpoke if it has chosen Earthquake, Duskull can always Will-O-Wisp to shut it down while Cranidos’s quite flimsy defences leave it open for a Porygon Thunderbolt

Croagunk – Priority can spell Doom to a Trick Room team if you replace R with D, but not on this one, Duskull can easily Will-O-Wisp as they try to Ice Punch, Bronzor is often said to be THE Croagunk counter showing it with it’s Earthquake, Cubone doesn’t take much from anything but Ice Punch and Eevee can KO after Stealth Rock and one turn of Life Orb damage, substitute variants can cause slight trouble with Focus Punch, but Duskull under Trick Room can break it down with Shadow Sneak as it out speeds.

Diglett – Often only seen as lead nowadays, Bronzor is one of the perfect match-ups, with my Team not being weak to Stealth Rock in the slightest, none of my pokemon are KOed unless it is a Life Orb/Choice Band variant (Eevee), while the rest can usually set up, and Slowpoke doesn’t take much from Sucker Punch either.

Dratini – A Trick Room Team doesn’t have trouble with pokemon that boost their speed, mixed variants can cause trouble as Bronzor is what I normally go to, Duskull can take on all variants apart from substitute with total ease while slowpoke does the same, Eevee does quite decent damage as it does to all sweepers with Quick Attack, and the bulk of Cubone means it can survive a none-boosted Waterfall.

Drifloon – Dangerous, it usually runs Hypnosis, shutting down either one of my sweepers or one of my Pokemon that set up Trick Room, I usually go straight to Bronzor, as it is good sleep fodder and then Porygon + Duskull can clear up the rest with Thunderbolt and Shadow Sneak, though sneak only does 70% at most.

Duskull – A slow and bulky pokemon that is a Trick Room teams worst nightmare, can Will-O-Wisp the entire team apart from Porygon for serious effect, and so Porygon is my number one choice, plus with healing moves at it’s disposal revenge killed isn’t easy, not to mention immunity to Shadow Sneak, Eevee can always Bite to finish it off, still doing a decent 60<%.

Eevee – Bronzor, Duskull and Slowpoke can all take it on without too much trouble, the latter being the last resort, Duskull can obviously Will-O-Wisp, Bronzor can take hits all day thus setting up Trick Room for the Cubone take over and sweep fest.

Elekid – The turn between Trick Rooms can cause a loss of a pokemon, but Bronzor, Duskull and Cubone can usually all take it on with their aforementioned ways of killing previous threats, not to mention Quick Attack can be a serous blow from Eevee, but it’s Static ability can be annoying.

Gastly – Scarfed Gastly isn’t too bad to take down, with two normal types and one ghost type it covers the common Shadow Ball + Hidden Power Fighting it is easy to work around, although Sludge Bomb is becoming more and more common, but that is what Bronzor is there for. Life Orb can be more painful, especially the dangerous substitute, however, I play to not let anything set up, this is because whatever is setting up usually is countered by one of my core in the team. Life Orb Gastly isn’t actually much trouble as Duskull can KO after Stealth Rock (not given might I add, but after life orb recoil is an almost certainty) Porygon can take a Hidden Power Fight and set up Trick Room, then KOing back with Thunderbolt, but if these hopes are gone, the team can be swept.

Gligar – Possibly the best three counters to Gligar in the team (bar itself), Duskull, Bronzor, Slowpoke all three can either take hits easily (Bronzor). Cripple (Duskull, or KO (Slowpoke), if Trick Room is up Eevee and Cubone can both KO, with Eevee depending on the set and Stealth Rock being up, while Cubone hopes it doesn’t have a Yache Berry.

Hippopotas – Bronzor can set up Trick Room as is usually seen as lead, Slowpoke can KO with Aqua Tail for super effective damage, Porygon can KO on the weaker defensive side with Tri Attack, Duskull on the other hand can cripple, although it often carries Slack Off so can be trouble to take down, Sandstorm is always a trouble too.

Horsea – Trick Room doesn’t care about speed boost of Rain, and out of Rain it isn’t too much of a threat, Eevee can always Quick Attack if worst comes to worst while the rest of the teams “core” can take a hit and do whatever they want nearly

Houndour – A real risk, as a lead it is dangerous with hitting on both sides of the spectrum, but as all sets for lead only carry Sucker Punch as a Dark Move, Slowpoke can come in, heal up set up trick room, not take much from sucker punch, heal up again, the cycle continues, Mixed Substitute Houndour is the almighty pain, I aim to never give it a time to set up, expecting all sets to be Substitute even though Choice Scarf is much more common and well known, Houndour can also switch into Will-O-Wisp which I have said I use to Cripple other threats, getting a Fire Boost and a free switch, Eevee can KO with Stealth Rock up, thus stopping the sweep, but does take a large hit from Sucker Punch if they choose it (I can’t afford to over predict), so hopefully Trick Room will be set up.

Kabuto – As a lead can set up Stealth Rock, not much else apart from wear down Trick Room Turns as Bronzor isn’t the best attacker, Duskull is a good bet if is in a Rain Team, but like Horsea Trick Room doesn’t mind Rain, thus Duskull can Will-O-Wisp for the Crippling, Slowpoke can take advantage of the Rain, surviving hits easily and setting up Trick Room, and Rain Boosted STAB Aqua Tail off a 16 attack does hurt, a lot.

Krabby – Bulky, can boost purely Attack, but if it tries too it will get pounded or cripple, although if it does pull it off, Krabby is just faster than all my pokemon, thus will cause critical damage, Slowpoke can usually take it, setting up Trick Room for the rest of the team eg Eevee, Porygon and Cubone to come in and KO back with their respected moves, or Slowpoke dealing damage itself, Duskull can Cripple with Will-O-Wisp, but KOing is always better than just Crippling.

Machop – Bulky, Strong, this is why Machop is feared, but this team never gives up, with the two best Fighting stoppers in the little cup metagame Slowpoke and Duskull usually have it covered, Payback doesn’t damage either that badly too, Substitute variants are very uncommon, but like with Croagunk can cause quite a lot of damage damaging the vital core of the team, as a lead it can be damaging, but a straight switch to Duskull normally gets them, forcing them out or to fire off a Payback, that isn’t boosted by the move ability before I cripple…

Magby – This thing should never be taken lightly, and it’s usually on teams that give support to it, and so can be quite deadly, Slowpoke is my best option, with taking not that much damage from Thunder Punch and setting up Trick Room before Aqua Tail to finish, Porygon can take it on, with surviving a Flare Blitz, but will still hurt in the morning, Eevee may look like a perfect option, being able to KO after Stealth Rock damage, but Magby often run Mach Punch and so is usually a last resort.

Magnemite – Can Trap Bronzor and be quite the pain, it’s typing means only Cubone can really take it on, but Flash Cannon with STAB does serious damage, Magnemite is usually scarfed, heaven forbid what my team can actually do to it if it is a Modest Substitute Magnet Rise Oran Berry set, god damn I just said how to beat my team XD, I guess this is where my team needs changing, Porygon could have another move, not Recover as at the moment is seems to be a waste, I’m thinking Hidden Power Fire (unless Porygon gets Flamethrower) could work, also hitting Croagunk hard if it dares switch in.

Mankey – Scarfed Mankey can be a pain to some teams, but with two of the greatest Fighting type counters in the game, as mentioned with Machop, it isn’t that much of a trouble, and with the added bonus that there is no confusion, thus Bronzor can Set Up Trick Room easily

Mantyke – Mantyke as it’s bulky set is a special wall still takes a KO amount of damage from Eevee’s Frustration, while my only special attacker, Porygon, has Thunderbolt, Slowpoke can often wall and set up Trick Room, hitting hard with Zen Headbutt or healing off damage before the finish with Cubone’s Double Edge or the like (if they are using Hidden Power Electric I can switch in), Special sweeper could be deadly, as Mantyke is a bulky pokemon naturally and is one that is just faster than all my Pokemon, but again Slowpoke takes minimal damage, Porygon the same, and Duskull can wear it down too.

Meowth – Meowth is almost primarily seen as a Lead, as Aipom and Glameow are seen during the game, Bronzor can take a Fake-Out, I can switch to Duskull if I want, but it is still dangerous, with Meowth, to beat it you have to hope Hypnosis misses, which is 40%, but it still doesn’t stop there, Bronzor is a great sleep fodder, but what is really dangerous is if it keeps coming back in, while they stop my Trick Room Sweepers to come in and utilize the so few turns Trick Room has.

Munchlax – As a slow pokemon with huge attack, if Trick Room is up (which I have to say, the way I play it normally is) then it can be a large trouble, often seen as a Trick Room teams worst nightmare, but there are counters among the team, Duskull can Cripple, can wear it down with Frustration too, but Pursuit still does take Duskull down to an easy revenge kill or set up target, if Trick Room goes down Cubone or Eevee can Revenge Kill with relative ease, while Slowpoke can often get the better of Munchlax with it’s Bulk.

Omanyte – As a Rain Sweeper, quite, I say quite, Very Dangerous, this is the same with many teams, especially with one without a proper revenge killer, Slowpoke can normally take a hit or two and set up Trick Room, thus negotiating the down-right sweep if the entire team, Porygon does the same, but can’t if Stealth Rock is up, as for if Trick Room is set up, Cubone can Earthquake, sometimes coming in on a Hidden Power Electric if known, Porygon can KO with Thunderbolt

Onix – Not a threat, it just isn’t, I guess explosion could work, but Duskull can cripple, Slowpoke can Aqua Tail, Bronzor can set up on it, Cubone can Destroy, so can Eevee (with Hidden Power Fight)

Paras – With the ability to incapacitate an opponents pokemon, and boost attack on the free turn or two, not to mention natural bulk, Paras can have seriously damaging consequences, fortunately it is weak to Stealth Rock and hates Duskull and Bronzor, Eevee can always Quick attack, and with Stealth Rock up can often KO straight away, although it will still almost always have a chance to incapacitate one of my team, thus letting loose the rest of the team with ease sometimes.

Phanpy – As a lead it can set up Stealth Rock, that’s about it to Bronzor, further down in the team (as replacement to Gligar quite often), it does show resilience, Will-O-Wisp from Duskull can Cripple and Duskull alone can often wall it, Slowpoke doesn’t take that much damage while can set up Trick Room and KO back some variants, if not all.

Poliwag – The famed BellyWag is stopped by Quick Attack from Eevee, Porygon can KO with Thunderbolt if Hypnosis misses, although I would Trick Room thus making it so very easy to revenge kill.

Porygon – Although is one of the famed Trick Room members, in which all TR teams should have, it is often seen a s choice scarf user, this variant has become more of a problem with Tri Attack becoming legal after the Pomeg Glitch in RSE, Bronzor, Duskull, and often my very own Porygon can shut it down if predicted correctly.

Slowpoke – It’s Bulk and being slow is another nightmare for Trick Room Teams, but overall isn’t that bad, my very own slowpoke can wall it ready for the correct prediction time or just the simple KO if they lack Slack Off, after all these turns of stalling Trick Room will have ended, thus enter the Eevee for the simple KO.

Snover – This is one deadly Christmas tree, as it is normally seen as a lead (the most common lead last time stats came out) it is sometimes destroyed by Bronzor, often seen to be one of it’s best counters, later in the team however, as a Sub Seed Stall Pokemon it is often quite a lot of trouble, wearing down pokemon here and there, this would be easily evaded if Porygon had the aforementioned with Magnemite Flamethrower, Eevee can KO the Scarfed variants after Stealth Rock damage if needs be too.

Staryu – A Powerful Special Sweeper with awesome coverage, but it also has a price tag of one Eevee, to which I just happen to have, Bronzor can take a couple of hits, so can Duskull, and set up Trick Room thus letting other team members to come in and enjoy the free turns of sweep.

Stunky – Usage has gone down with Misdreavous banned, so has it’s usefulness, on this team it is stopped by the almighty bulk of Cubone along with an easy KO, same with Bronzor except it can take more hits and can only two hit KO, Explosion can mean it can take down one pokemon nearly every battle, as there is no chance of stopping it as it out speeds (unless I get Trick Room up) all of my team.

Taillow – Toxic orb means it doesn’t last long anyway, is slightly harder to take down that normal physical attackers as is immune to Will-O-Wisp, but a swift Eevee Quick Attack or the superb walling ability of Bronzor puts Tailow in it’s place.

Wynaut – A dangerous trapper, with encore here and there, and as slow to tie or under speed with some of my team members, it can cause trouble, giving time for the ever so common set up, Cubone can KO with Earthquake, Eevee doing nearly a KOes worth at least with Frustration and Duskull there to clean up the bits and bobs, things aren’t too bad, but it is never that simple, and so it often seen to be quite deadly.
 
hey nice team, i dont see any point of ice beam of cubone tho, replace it with ice pucnh, or swords dance

edit: cubone doesnt learn ice punch, sorry
 
@CBMence
I did think about swords dance and test it out, it's just such a shame it doesn't learn ice punch but i normally need gligar even with it's three best counters of all time on my team as otherwise it takes away my momentum and effectivess of many sweeps, that is why i need Ice Punch lets see why i (don't) need swords dance:

Double Edge only KOes gligar after a Swords Dance, but chances to set up Swords Dance are really down to switches, and switches while I have Trick Room up are few and far between, mostly because they need to sacrifice to have a chance

Cubone also doesn't need really need 60 attack and the amount of turns trick room stays up means i might aswell be attacking

If trick room gets an item in Pokemon Black/White say that boosts the turns to 8 i will really test swords dance though

thanks for rating though :)

Request:

Can anyone give a view on the 4th move on Porygon? That would help greatly
 
how abopt ice beam for porygon?
I think Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Fight and Ice Beam are the choices
The second quote was taken from the Porygon analysis part where i explained about the set

What i want to know is why choose one or the other, ice beam i used to have, but in the threat list i'm weak to Magnemite and Gastly and Drifloon, so i would like someone to explain how i reliably beat one of them or explain why one isn't a threat, and so with this information i put those in that order in what i think could be the most useful, with ice beam is the least. This is because it doesn't cover anything else that the team as a whole doesn't already apart from maybe a grass type, but those still take a ton from tri attack, or it's a snover so it has a resistance to ice aswell

With this just running through my head i believe hidden power fire could be useful, i think thunderbolt hits gastly hard enough anyway, it hits snover and grass types but most of all it hits magnemite who was in my eye's seen cabable of destroying my ENTIRE team

by all means please i'm not saying your post is worthless, but i just need a reason to sway one or the other

thanks again :)
 

Crux

Banned deucer.
Congrats on first. I think I played this team when you still ran Gastly as Lead.

On Bronzor I don't see any reason for you to run Earthquake over Psychic or HP Ice. The only lead against whom Earthquake is the superior option is Houndour, who you should be switching out from anyway. Psychic allows you to have a chance of beating Machop one on one as long as confusion doesn’t stop you, whilst HP Ice allows you to pose a direct threat to lead Gligar and possibly Phanpy.
Download would probably benefit a Porygon sweep more than Trace. You mentioned that Porygon is a bit underwhelming on your team, so you might want to try replacing it with Munchlax. A max attack Munchlax Return is surprisingly powerful and Munchlax also offers a counter for ghost types. You do lose the ability to set up trick room, but you already have three Pokémon who can do that. Additionally Munchlax functions effectively outside of trick room too and provides you with answer to Drifloon, Gastly, Houndour and Chinchou who you mentioned you have problems with in addition to many other threats to your team. This set would probably be most effective.

Name: Munchlax
Move1: Return / Body Slam
Move2: Earthquake
Move3: Pursuit
Move4: Protect / Fire Punch / Ice Punch
Item: Oran Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 236 Attack / 36 Def / 236 SpD


The Evs can obviously be varied

You may also want to try substitute over Ice Beam on Cubone because if you add HP Ice over Earthquake on Bronzor, then it is redundant. Cubone can set up substitute on something it scare out and still be able to function once Trick Room wears out.



This is a fairly well built team and looks like fun to play with. Good luck with it and any other teams you decide to make.
 
The second quote was taken from the Porygon analysis part where i explained about the set

What i want to know is why choose one or the other, ice beam i used to have, but in the threat list i'm weak to Magnemite and Gastly and Drifloon, so i would like someone to explain how i reliably beat one of them or explain why one isn't a threat, and so with this information i put those in that order in what i think could be the most useful, with ice beam is the least. This is because it doesn't cover anything else that the team as a whole doesn't already apart from maybe a grass type, but those still take a ton from tri attack, or it's a snover so it has a resistance to ice aswell

With this just running through my head i believe hidden power fire could be useful, i think thunderbolt hits gastly hard enough anyway, it hits snover and grass types but most of all it hits magnemite who was in my eye's seen cabable of destroying my ENTIRE team

by all means please i'm not saying your post is worthless, but i just need a reason to sway one or the other

thanks again :)

if you use ice beam on porygon then marowak shouldn't need to carry ice beam
 

ghost

formerly goldenghost
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
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This team looks very nice, psykout22. I did see you at #1 and #2 at the leaderboard, at least until Nails and I moved ahead.

This is merely a nitpick, but your team seems like it would scramble to find a solution to taking on Lead Houndour. Right now, you basically just have to let it kill something and then revenge kill it with Eevee, since it literally OHKOs your entire team. Maybe Kabuto?

Also, Shadow Ball is the best option for Porygon's fourth move.
 
@Crux
I run Earthquake because of Kabuto, but kabuto is also hurt by psychic and isn't going to be doing much of anything, especially to Slowpoke to who i will most likely switch in

Hidden Power ice would also give the slot of Cubone to substitute i see your logic, but the lack of doing constant damage, especially to any waters basically such as chinchou which could cause problems might be endless.
I also don't see cubone forcing switches at all, apart from a scarfchou with t-bolt, which would be a bit dumn to say the least.
What i've found is that no other move is really needed, i thought about T-punch for water types like mantyke, but it still takes a ton from Double Edge and pokes like slowpoke take the same damage from Earthquake STAB.

Munchlax, there were simple reasons why i actually overlooked this, or atleast didn't look at it for very long...
I wanted to have 4 tr pokemon to have a variety and keep the core strong to make sure Tr is almsot always set up 1 or 2 turns after it ends.
However i do see if i play it carefully, munchlax and my sweepers won't need TR as much and it can still be up quite alot.
However one large problem:
Cubone has the same coverage as Munchlax but is stronger and better for a sweeper, Double Edge i believe may even do as much as a Return Life Orb, which is disappointing
Eevee STAB Adaptability is a nuclear bomb compared to Return even with a life orb as i said disappointing in my last post, even if it does look good on paper.

However, i do see that Munchlax offers Ghost and spec attack sweeper powers. But it does mean to the team it has no special attackers apart from ice beam on bone and bronzor with whatever the hell it has, this could be a downfall to the team, but i must say my Attackers all together destroy any bulky defensive pokemon there are apart from Fire Punch not KOing Bronzor i believe, but that isn't too big of a deal and bronzor is the same spec defensively anyway >_>
If Munchlax got a more powerful move other than pursuit and shadow ball to hit ghosts it could be very useful, as i see a duskull problem at large

@CBMence
I see what you mean with ice beam on cubone thus making way for Substitute as mentioned by Crux which seems the better option than Swords Dance
It will also mean a better threat for out of Trick Room as Crux said with Munchlax being added to the team, thus making it more of a standard bulky team with revenge killers with a Trick Room suprise, i may try not doing Trick Room on the first turn for the next couple of times i battle

@Ulysses
It isn't a scramble to take on leaddour, all i have to do is send in slowpoke
slowpoke won't go for the Aqua Tail straight off, can take both overheat/fireblast and reversals all day, sucker punch doesn't even do 60% i think to which oran + slack off cover for, and so it quite easy, and i can always go to eevee on a free chance if they think i will aqua tail etc

i must say s-ball is looking good to me too, but once again i need reasons offensively

Thanks for all your comments i will test them all, but maybe not on the ladder * stares at Ulysses *

There is one thing i see trouble with my team, lack of priority, on the upside i believe Eevee is doing well enough with duskull helping out those it cannot hit, and the added factor does it need priority with 4 hugely bulky pokemon

I must say this is turning out to be more fun than expected
The team, as it is Trick Room is quite fun to play around, incapable of doing anything as you are stopped in your tracks by your opponent, to sudden pulling off one single Trick Room and sweeping the half broken team i have atleast managed to wear down

oh and one last thing, i may try out Clamperl, this thing seems like a beast, it can also deal with leaddour and other threats mentioned with reasonable ease, especially with Iron Defense or something of the sort, just as an idea incase you guys decide to test it too
 

ghost

formerly goldenghost
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
LC Leader
Well, I was banking on the possibility that Houndour could run Dark Pulse, which Slowpoke is not going to like.

Also, I say Shadow Ball because otherwise you can't really hit Duskull or Gastly reliably.
 
I have decided after serious testing, hidden power fire is the way to go on Porygon

Bronzor has changed Earthquake to Psychic

All other pokes stay the same

The reason i found these so productive is because i found houndour wasn't a threat as a lead, sure if i predicted wrong a poke would go down, but straight away it would be revenge killed and/or set up on.

Hidden Power Fire also hit Snover, who could stall out my team quite well i found. Clamperl didn't do aswell as i had hoped, as it wasn't really a sweeper or a pokemon that really needed TR at all, so i found it was a waste of space, and it also meant my Cubone and Eevee were much less useful.

The team as it is a less of a suprise to opponent, is being stalled to set up Trick Room, I have sen myself relying alot on Eevee, and it was bound to happen, Quick Attack left a pokemon it would 90% of the time KO with SR and instead got KOed back leaving way for many other threats, i'm currently trying a Choice Band Eevee (bulkier than Ziggy which is why it is chosen) as i'm finding i have to switch out after Trick Room goes down anyway, but i'm seeing myself losing even on paper, this team has suprisingly never lost for lucifer, and only once for myself when not testing out new pokemon, i think it's as good as it can get atm

If anyone has any other suggestions, please don't hesitate, the pokemon that eevee didn't manage to funnily enough a Houndour i believe, and then a Gunk came in which had dark pulse... thus being able to late game sweep my team.
 

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