Stall and Brawl (Peaked @2046)

[Lugios]

Hey guys this is my first RMT and really my first post as a board member. I've actually played quite a bit of competitive pokemon in the past just never joined the community until now. So after years of constant lurking and playing here and there, I took the dive into gen 5 OU. My first couple of teams were decent for someone who was new to the scene but they all peaked at around 1800. I then created a HO team that broke the 1900 barrier but never made it past 2k. After 3 weeks of studying the meta and learning from my mistakes I was able to take what I've learned so far and come up with this team. Its a sort of hard counter to many top threats in the meta while allowing me to revenge kill things that can break through my stall. The team peaked at 2046 under my alt El Chupacabra and currently remains above 2k.

The Team
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In Depth Analysis
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Tyson (Terrakion) @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack

The team starts with banded Terrakion. Very few pokemon can afford to swicth into the power this set provides. He blows holes through unprepared teams and forces my opponents into making some tough decisions. A few good predictions with this guy can end a game very quickly and if the opponent's team survives they are more often than not decimated to the point where they will not recover. The drawback of being banded is of course being stuck with one move until you switch out and the rest of the team does a good job of addressing safe switching and cleaning up the pieces Terrakion leaves in his wake. Depending on the opponents team I prefer to use him early on and dent my opponents or late game to ensure a victory.

Gustaph (Alakazam) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

My second sweeper is one that compliments Terrakion perfectly. Magic guard is an absolute blessing on Zam adding a type of psuedo-bulk that is scary when paired with his raw speed and power. This set is the ultimate revenge killer and can take apart almost anything that threatens my defensive core as well as pokemon that outspeed Terrakion. Move set is standard because it fits his role perfectly and allows for great special attack coverage to break pokemon who don't mind Terrakion.

Bessy (Blissey) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Protect

Blissey finds her home on the team as a support pokemon with great utility. This special wall can also clean games up once the physical threats from the opposing team have been removed. Thunder wave is an amazing move that can cripple teams as the game progresses and allows for easier sweeps from Zam and Terra in late game situations. Wish's new mechanic can be a real blessing for my sweepers to get a second wind and in the rare situation where Zam's sash isn't used up it can fully heal him and guarantee some major damage to opponents. Seismic toss is basic damage dealing move and protect rounds out the set as a form of scouting and guaranteed healing with wish.

Dudebro (Slowbro) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
- Psychic

The peanut butter to Blissey's jelly. Slowbro is a VERY underrated pokemon who is incredibly comfortable in the current OU metagame. This physical wall has excellent synergy with Blissey and is blessed with the incredible ability of regenerator. This guy checks and counters all physical dragons, landrous, gliscor, all fighting pokemon not name breloom (yes that includes Keledeo) and can even give scizors trouble due to his defensive bulk and scald. Many teams will simply find themselves unprepared to deal with this guy once Terra and Zam wipe out his checks and counters.

Sandy Crack (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Slack Off

What originally started as a weatherless team was changed the very first game I tried Hippowdon. Between it's physical bulk and the benefits sand provides my team it became apparent that Hippowdon would play a vital role in backing up not only the stall portion of my team but also helping my offense long after he's gone due to rocks and residual damage from sand. I went with toxic over whirlwind and have found myself wishing I could run both. This guy is great at taking out Jirachis and is very consistent at winning weather wars.

Scizurp (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch

Its hard to pass up on what scizor brings to the team. Banded bullet punch is too powerful to ignore, U turn mixed with paralysis and my defensive core can be menacing, and pursuit trapping all make this guy feel right at home with the rest of the team. I have wanted to replace him with something that can hit Skarmory hard but losing the powerful priority is a bit scary to me. Regardless, scizor has proven himself time and time again in critical situations.

Conclusion​

The team works great and can be very fun to play but does struggle against certain mons. Most notably I find myself hating match ups against Skarmory. The lack of electric and fire moves on my team leave me in a difficult spot when facing the bird and it can turn into a stall war earlier than my team appreciates. Sub seed Breloom can also be quite a pain in my side as he can take apart my defensive core all while behind a sub. And lastly Kyurem-B can also break through my stall quite easily due to the mixed attacks. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm still new and learn something new daily.

 

[Kingler]

(Y no screenshot ladder)
Hey, nice team you got there and congratz on the peak. Just saying, why do you have a CBzor on a more bulky offense team? It would help zam get a free switch, sure, but you need an actual sweeper instead of wallbreakers and revenge killers, appropriate terms for terrakion and alakazam respectively. You could try a bulky swords dance scizor(no acrozor cause I think the team can deal with jelly and tenta). This team does get effed up by opposing stall b/c stall =/= toxic spikes, which hurts your whole defensive core as well as terrakion's staying power. For this, I'd suggest a tentacruel over slowbro. This absorbs toxic spikes and spins for your team. With hippowdon it forms a decent core and is a better counter to keldeo. Your team is not messed up by terrakion(hippowdon beast), lando-t(hippo again) and keldeo(tentacruel). For skarm i have no idea what you can do except maybe HP fire over HP ice, though non custap skarm is kinda rare. I believe scizor can handle kyu-b fine with priority and stealth rocks.
Great team, hope I helped(btw what playstyle is it defined as, I'm pretty sure it's stall with offense added).

 

[Leftiez]

Hey there.
This is an interesting team you have there, I can't really rate your team because it seems correct to me, but I notice weaknesses.
You are very weak against Scizor Sword Dancer, it can setup easily on your team, you hasn't phazer enough resistant and your scizor cannot do anything, because generally Siczor SD is played with Roost, you will be very disadvantaged I noticed a weakness against Keldeo Ebelt because slowbro takes a lot of damage against Hidden power Bug, and you cant do anything with Alakazam, because the opponent will inevitably switch and get back after, I can't suggest Tentacruel because you will be weak to Gyarados, then I'll suggest Jellicent@protect over Slowbro, why Jellicent @ Protect? Jellicent is a very good counter to Keldeo and Scizor because it stands up well against their stabs,and it also has recover to heal, but Jellicent cannot counter Gyarados sub Bounce, but now yes, because with Protect you can prevent the opponent from attacking and you are immune to Waterfall.

Now i'd suggest Ice fang over Toxic on hippowdon because without slowbro you will be weak to Garchomp-Salamence-Dragonite, you can walls them with Toxic, but they can easily set up before you die and do a lot of damage, while with fang Ice you can easily 2HKO them.

Then I notice a big weakness against Gliscor Subtoxic, it can easily set up on your team and spamm Toxic + Protect, and Hippowdon@Ice fang cannot do anything because he will die before due to poison, i'd suggest to swap Scizor in Bulky SD roost, this version is very good for your team because it helps to keep offensive pressure against stalls and can also come on Gliscor subtoxic with roost. Then you have Blissey for Latios and Latias so you do not lose anything.

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

I hope I helped and Good Luck with your team.
~Leftiez

 

[NightArch]

Once blissey is gone, Volcarona is a huge threat once it gets to +1.
I recommend you change Choice band terrakion to a Choice scarf one. It can outspeed +1 volcarona and then OHKO it with Stone Edge. It also let's to deal with thunderus-T.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVS: 252 atk / 252 spe / 4 Spd
Jolly Nature
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-X-Scissor
-Rock Slide
I hope i helped your team^^.

 

[Lugios]

(Y no screenshot ladder)
Hey, nice team you got there and congratz on the peak. Just saying, why do you have a CBzor on a more bulky offense team? It would help zam get a free switch, sure, but you need an actual sweeper instead of wallbreakers and revenge killers, appropriate terms for terrakion and alakazam respectively. You could try a bulky swords dance scizor(no acrozor cause I think the team can deal with jelly and tenta). This team does get effed up by opposing stall b/c stall =/= toxic spikes, which hurts your whole defensive core as well as terrakion's staying power. For this, I'd suggest a tentacruel over slowbro. This absorbs toxic spikes and spins for your team. With hippowdon it forms a decent core and is a better counter to keldeo. Your team is not messed up by terrakion(hippowdon beast), lando-t(hippo again) and keldeo(tentacruel). For skarm i have no idea what you can do except maybe HP fire over HP ice, though non custap skarm is kinda rare. I believe scizor can handle kyu-b fine with priority and stealth rocks.
Great team, hope I helped(btw what playstyle is it defined as, I'm pretty sure it's stall with offense added).

I've always considered Tentacruel over Slowbro but the constant healing is what attracted me to Slowbro in the first place and its something that Tenta lacks. I will give it a shot as it does round out my weaknesses nicely and still offers similar coverage to what Slowbro can do but if it doesn't work I still have Jelly to try out. Now a couple of you have mentioned bulky SD Scizor so I will definitely be giving him a try, my main concern is whether I should run Bug Bite or Super Power. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Kingler]

I've always considered Tentacruel over Slowbro but the constant healing is what attracted me to Slowbro in the first place and its something that Tenta lacks. I will give it a shot as it does round out my weaknesses nicely and still offers similar coverage to what Slowbro can do but if it doesn't work I still have Jelly to try out. Now a couple of you have mentioned bulky SD Scizor so I will definitely be giving him a try, my main concern is whether I should run Bug Bite or Super Power. Thanks for the input guys.

Ok. I'd suggest bug bite as it gets through ferro and superpower can't break through skarm anyway :(
Hope this helped c:

 

[Honus]

I think Leftiez' rate is spot on because this team has real trouble against SD Scizor and Ebelt Keldeo in the rain [2hkos Slowbro since Slowbro has low SpDef and Blissey cant take a secret sword], so Jellicent will be a very welcome addition, Breloom is also a huge problem for this team because it can use Spore on Hippo or Blissey and then set up at which point nothing in the team can really switch in. I think it may be best to replace your Blissey with a Specially Defensive Celebi, which walls a lot of the same threats and is really great in this meta, in addition to beating Breloom, it might not be as specially bulky as Blissey but it can definitely wall most of the same stuff and solve your Breloom problem.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SDef / 36 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Thunder Wave

2 more changes you can consider are to use SD Life Orb Scizor over your CB Version, as you can use it as a breaker with Terrakion, ie having Terrakion Close Combat it, where Skarmory is forced to phaze and stay at <50% health between Terrakion and SR, at which point you can cop an SD and be able to KO Skarmory with +2 Superpower later in the game if its still weakened. Also Psychic>>>Psyshock on Alakazam, does more damage to a lot of stuff including Defensive Hippowdons, even specially defensive ones, which Terrakion can weaken for you, it's really the superior move even if it doesn't beat Blissey, since you already have Terrak/Scizor to do that. EDIT: Gonna reference Leftiez' rate again and say yes to Ice Fang>Toxic on big Hippoman.

 

[Lugios]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. That Bulky SD set on Scizor is insane with this team. He gets tons of opportunities to set up and can remain a lingering threat with his respectable bulk and wish support. I went with Superpower over Bug Bite as a lot of things absolutely hate switching into a boosted Superpower. It gives the team a true sweeper and fits the team's synergy as it can leave some gaping holes for Terra and Zam to take advantage of.

Scizurp (Scizor) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Roost



As much as I love Slowbro, Tentacruel has truly proven his worth on the team. I went ahead with a utility set:

Too Cruel (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic

This thing works soooooo well with Blissey and Hippowdon!!! I avoided using protect because it doesn't benefit me in the sand as it does in the rain. This left me with room for knock Off which can truly catch opponents off guard. Knock Off is great in the sand as the removal of Lefties leaves some pokemon feeling frail, not to mention what it can do to a choiced pokemon on the switch.

 

[MCBarrett]

I don't have much to add that is any different than the above rates but I think switching your ability on Tentacruel from Rain Dish to Liquid Ooze would be a good idea since you aren't gaining anything from Rain Dish anyways in the Sand and Liquid Ooze can deal damage to things like Volcarona and Venusaur that will try to use Giga Drain on you. Sorry I don't have anything different to add that hasn't already been said, great team though!

 

[Kingler]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. That Bulky SD set on Scizor is insane with this team. He gets tons of opportunities to set up and can remain a lingering threat with his respectable bulk and wish support. I went with Superpower over Bug Bite as a lot of things absolutely hate switching into a boosted Superpower. It gives the team a true sweeper and fits the team's synergy as it can leave some gaping holes for Terra and Zam to take advantage of.

Scizurp (Scizor) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Roost



As much as I love Slowbro, Tentacruel has truly proven his worth on the team. I went ahead with a utility set:

Too Cruel (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic

This thing works soooooo well with Blissey and Hippowdon!!! I avoided using protect because it doesn't benefit me in the sand as it does in the rain. This left me with room for knock Off which can truly catch opponents off guard. Knock Off is great in the sand as the removal of Lefties leaves some pokemon feeling frail, not to mention what it can do to a choiced pokemon on the switch.

Hey, I'm glad you liked it. Bulky SD scizor has leftovers though >_>
As for the tentacruel set, to reduce your keldeo weakness further, run protect over knock off to get potential rain recovery. Also run toxic spikes over toxic because it's freaking stall!!!! Stall absolutely needs toxic spikes for the residual damage. This thing filled so many things, that's why I suggested it anyway.

I think Leftiez' rate is spot on because this team has real trouble against SD Scizor and Ebelt Keldeo in the rain [2hkos Slowbro since Slowbro has low SpDef and Blissey cant take a secret sword], so Jellicent will be a very welcome addition, Breloom is also a huge problem for this team because it can use Spore on Hippo or Blissey and then set up at which point nothing in the team can really switch in. I think it may be best to replace your Blissey with a Specially Defensive Celebi, which walls a lot of the same threats and is really great in this meta, in addition to beating Breloom, it might not be as specially bulky as Blissey but it can definitely wall most of the same stuff and solve your Breloom problem.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SDef / 36 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Thunder Wave

2 more changes you can consider are to use SD Life Orb Scizor over your CB Version, as you can use it as a breaker with Terrakion, ie having Terrakion Close Combat it, where Skarmory is forced to phaze and stay at <50% health between Terrakion and SR, at which point you can cop an SD and be able to KO Skarmory with +2 Superpower later in the game if its still weakened. Also Psychic>>>Psyshock on Alakazam, does more damage to a lot of stuff including Defensive Hippowdons, even specially defensive ones, which Terrakion can weaken for you, it's really the superior move even if it doesn't beat Blissey, since you already have Terrak/Scizor to do that. EDIT: Gonna reference Leftiez' rate again and say yes to Ice Fang>Toxic on big Hippoman.

Um, psychic>>>>psyshock? Psyshock is pretty important on the sets to break through special walls aka blissey. Though it might not be a 2HKO it prevents blissey from switching in whenever it wants. Same goes to a lesser extent with chansey. Also, with smart prediction, hippo can just use whirlwind over toxic, which is what I recommend. It phazes acrobatics scizor, which can rip through tenta, SD terrakion and DD dragons.

I don't have much to add that is any different than the above rates but I think switching your ability on Tentacruel from Rain Dish to Liquid Ooze would be a good idea since you aren't gaining anything from Rain Dish anyways in the Sand and Liquid Ooze can deal damage to things like Volcarona and Venusaur that will try to use Giga Drain on you. Sorry I don't have anything different to add that hasn't already been said, great team though!

While his team would love to have sand on, rain teams as in politoed/keldeo hit most of his team for neutral/SE damage. Tenta in rain is the only thing walling pony and it absolutely needs rain dish to consistently do so.