Other Metagames Psychosis

[Aki Kino]

Introduction:

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Hi. I'm Aki Kino, Aki for short, and I recently joined the Monotype community. I've been lurking the forums for the past few months and Monotype has struck to me as a very enjoyable metagame. Of course, it has its flaws, one of which being that most matches are merely decided because of matchup, but in my opinion, building your team to overcome a difficult matchup is one of the best things about Monotype. Before I start my very first Rate My Team, I'd like to give a small shoutout to some people who supported me while I tried to understand the metagame and provided me teams to get a better grasp of it. The Excadrill I cannot thank you enough for helping me out. terrors and 6ti, you're both really cool users to talk to. terrors also helped me fix up my format for this RMT, so thanks for that!

Teambuilding Process:
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The reason I decided to build a Psychic team was Mega Slowbro (

). Mega Slowbro is an exceptionally fat tank that can act both as sponge for physical attacks but also as an amazing win condition, with access to Calm Mind. Next, I decided to add a resist to Grass type moves that threaten Mega Slowbro and a specially defensive sponge. Jirachi (

) also has access to Stealth Rock, being able to cause passive damage to the opposing team. Latias (

) came in next. Its immunity to Ground type moves helps Jirachi greatly, and it takes both Electric and Grass type moves aimed for Mega Slowbro. Furthermore, it provides Defog and Healing Wish support, both of which benefit the team greatly. Lastly, I needed an offensive core that can pressurize the opponent's team. I opted for a triple Choice-item core between Choice Band Victini (

), Choice Specs Hoopa-U (

), and Choice Scarf Gardevoir (

) This provided me two very strong wallbreakers and a fast revenge killer.

In-Depth Explanation:
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Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Flamethrower

Mega Slowbro acts as the team's physically defensive wall and win condition. Its excellent defensive stats allow it to take pretty much any physical hit aimed at it while its Special Attack isn't shabby either, being higher than Keldeo's. Calm Mind lets it bolster its Special Attack and Special Defense, allowing it to hit harder while also being able to take Special hits aimed towards it, which it otherwise cannot take very well. Scald is one of the greatest moves in Pokemon, freely spammable with a chance to burn, limiting switchins. Flamethrower allows it to act as a win condition vs. Steel teams and lets it hit Grass type Pokemon for super effective damage. The EVs give Slowbro decent bulk in both ends of the spectrum, as I don't want Mega Slowbro to get OHKO'd by a Special move before it has set up a Calm Mind. Regenerator is its best ability while non-mega, permitting it to not go for Slack Off every time it pivots in on a physical attacker and click Scald instead, as it can just switch out to regain its health.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 148 SpD / 108 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

Jirachi forms an amazing core with Mega Slowbro. It can switch in most Special hits that Slowbro fears, while also covering two of its weaknesses (Grass and Bug), and providing Stealth Rock support to the team, which is almost a necessity for any team. Iron Head, coupled with Serene Grace has a very high chance to flinch the target and is thus the reason I chose it as my STAB move. U-turn provides momentum, allowing Jirachi to switch out after it has set up Stealth Rock and prevent any threatening Pokemon from coming in safely. Lastly, Toxic helps it beat certain Defog users, such as Zapdos and Mantine. Furthermore, it beats walls such as Porygon2 that Jirachi otherwise loses to. 108 Speed investments allow it to outspeed Pokemon with base 70 Speed and a positive nature, such as Jolly Breloom and Bisharp. The rest EVs allow it to take Special hits as well as it can.

Latias @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Healing Wish
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock

Latias is the final Pokemon in my defensive core. Providing a Ground immunity, a resistance to Grass and Electric type moves and utility in the form of Defog and Healing Wish makes it an obvious pick. I opted it over Latios because I felt my team would start to become more offensive if I opted for the latter, the thought of which I disliked. An offensive team would be better off with Mega Metagross or Mega Alakazam; I had picked Mega Slowbro because I meant to build a bulky offensive team. Healing Wish helps Jirachi, as I do not have Wish on it, meaning it'll get worn down quickly. Defog is a must, even though I don't fear Stealth Rock much, Spikes and Toxic Spikes can become very annoying at times. Draco Meteor and Psyshock are self-explanatory STAB moves, powered up by Soul Dew. Although one may argue Life Orb is a better option, I dislike the recoil on a bulkier Pokemon like Latias and my only offensive moves are Psychic and Dragon type. I do agree, however, that Life Orb outclasses Soul Dew on Latios but that's besides the point.

Victini @ Choice Band
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Bolt Strike
- Brick Break

Victini starts the offensive core with insane immediate power in the form of Choice Band V-Create. It hits incredibly hard, being able to 2HKO most physically defensive walls that tend to switch in and prevents even resists from switching in freely. Another good factor about Choice Band Victini is the fact that it can be used as a lure to certain physically defensive walls, such as Mandibuzz by bluffing a Choice Scarf, which is much more common. U-turn helps grab momentum and forms a decent U-turn core with Jirachi. Bolt Strike hits bulky Water types that may switch in, such as Slowbro or Jellicent. Brick Break was my choice for the last move, being able to hit the common Heatran switchin on Steel teams for a large amount of damage. A Jolly nature is preferred due to its amazing Speed tier, although the lack in power is slightly noticable.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

Hoopa-U is my specially oriented wallbreaker, synergising well with Choice Band Victini. Again, it has very little switchins and most Specially defensive walls are easily dispatched off with its brute power between its STAB moves and amazing coverage options. Dark Pulse hits insanely hard on the Special side while Psyshock hits most Specially defensive switchins, such as Chansey for a solid 2HKO. Thunderbolt was my opted coverage move, although Energy Ball is an equally viable option as well. Both are able to hit bulky Water types for a large amount of damage, while Energy Ball helps greatly vs. Ground teams and Thunderbolt helps vs. Flying teams, although it is true that most Flying teams have no switchins to Dark Pulse in the first place. Focus Blast deals a large amount of damage to Dark and Steel types that can threaten Hoopa-U.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Trick

Gardevoir was my choice for the last Pokemon in my offensive core as well as my team. It covers the role of a Choice Scarf user that Victini generally covers, while also helping greatly vs. Dark type teams that have a superior matchup against this team. Moonblast has little switchins on a Dark team, while Psyshock hits Specially Defensive walls that take Moonblast with ease, such as Zapdos. Focus Blast hits Steel types that easily take both of Gardevoir's STAB options. Trick was my last option to cripple walls such as Chansey which can be a huge annoyance to face. I opted for it over Healing Wish, as I already have Healing Wish support through Latias and I felt it was unecessary to run a dual Healing Wish core. EVs are self-explanatory.

Threatlist:
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Dark teams:

Dark teams are obviously very hard to handle, as all they need to do is click their STAB moves to seriously damage my team. Bisharp, in particular, is very threatening due to its access to Swords Dance and priority Sucker Punch. Mega Sharpedo can sweep very easily after getting a Speed Boost in its non-mega form.

Steel teams:

This core can give any Psychic team a headache, although thankfully with the rise of Mega Metagross' usage, it has declined in viability.

Bug teams:

Bug teams that abuse Sticky Web support can be extremely annoying to face, as my win condition, Victini, gets outsped by most strong attackers after the Speed drop from Sticky Web.

Heracross:

Heracross is the only Pokemon that deserves a special mention because of its Choice Scarf set. As I lack Choice Scarf Victini, I have nothing that outspeeds it and Moxie raises its Attack everytime it gets a KO.

Replays:
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vs Steel [1]
vs Steel [2]
vs Rock
vs Electric

Importable:​

Enjoy!

Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Flamethrower

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 148 SpD / 108 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

Victini @ Choice Band
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Bolt Strike
- Brick Break

Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magician
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

Latias @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Healing Wish
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Trick

 

[6ti]

Hey, like I said yesterday, welcome to monotype! I really like your team, and thanks for the shoutout. I just have a quick change that I think you'd benefit a
lot from.
Thunder Wave > Toxic on Jirachi. Since you have Band Tini, your method of outspeeding Heracross doesn't exist. This gives you an option to cripple it and basically prevent it from sweeping.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[Tyke]

Hey!

This is a small edit, but I'd consider running Healing Wish > Trick on Scarf Gardevoir, rather than Latias. While crippling walls can be helpful, you are already packing a LOT of wallbreaking power with band Victini and Specs Hoopa-u who can tear through the likes of Chansey, Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Mew and so on. Healing Wish can help you keep those wallbreakers and win-cons healthy. This would free Latias to run Roost which gives it lots of sustained bulk, especially if you're not taking LO damage using Soul Dew.

Great team, and welcome to Monotype!