Hello everyone.
After I got my suspect reqs, I was a little burned out and wanted to have some fun. I was playing with some very silly Pokemon like Slaking, Cryoganal, and other other awful options. While screwing around with some questionable teams and Pokemon, I was so impressed by Cetitan's sweeping potential that I wanted to give Snow a shot. I've been floating around 1650-1750 with the team, which is a bit lower than where I usually sit with a polished meta team, but it has been a blast and I see a lot of potential. I would really appreciate some help from some smart teambuilders, as I have been enjoying myself a lot with the team. Perhaps snow isn't going to get much better, but I believe there is definitely something here. My teambuilding skills are not as honed as some of you, so any advice would be very appreciated.
Link to the original team: https://pokepast.es/1375fe53d1a01b05
Edit: LINK TO THE CURRENT TEAM- https://pokepast.es/898a4286fbdf1b96
Baxcalibur @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Glaive Rush
- Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
A pretty obvious choice for a snow team. Baxcalibur gives the team a fighting chance against Skeledirge, with Thermal Exchange to stop Will-o-Wisp and Earthquake coverage to hit back. I choose to run a DD Bax over a banded one, because I feel there is a bit too much momentum loss with the banded set for this team once the Eject Button is used. DD boosting is just a better use of the snow + Aurora Veil than hitting one Pokemon hard and switching out. I opted to run a Loaded Dice over HDB, as I like the damage + Icicle Spear to bust sashes when sweeping, and if my opponent does get rocks up, it's usually gg with the rest of the team anyway. I choose to run Glaive over Ice Shard for now, but I have been alternating back and forth fairly frequently. I like Ice Shard against priority users when sweeping and the option of killing a chipped speed boosted sweeper with Adamant Bax damage, but have decided on Glaive Rush anyway to help wallbreak.
Cetitan @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Slush Rush
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Def / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Tera Blast
Usually the star of the show. Belly Drum Cetitan is a criminally underrated Pokemon. With this EV spread, Slush Rush brings its speed up to 452, and its unboosted Speed is still a fairly formidable 226. With 452 boosted speed you outrun almost anything in the metagame, and anything you can't wouldn't make a difference even with 252 Speed EV's (such as Booster'd Iron Valiant or +1 Timid Volc). Perhaps there is some tweaking I can still do with the Speed/Def EV's, but it has been very good. Tera Fire is a great defensive typing, giving it an option to stop offensive Steel and Fire moves behind Aurora Veil to Belly Drum. A solid belly drum is usually gg. Tera Blast adds some additional STAB coverage. Been seeing a lot of Tera Water Tusk dealing with this set well, so I might rethink the typing a bit.
Abomasnow @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Swords Dance
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
I chose to run Abomasnow over Slowking as my Snow setter. I like the idea of Slowking, and having a Water/Psychic type compliments the team very well. But, in practicality, having the ability to immediately get up Snow is a much more consistent option for the team. It also can run Aurora Veil, which helps Cetitan and Baxcalibur set up and win. Abomasnow is suprisingly useful on its own, with STAB Ice Shard being a great option to have, letting you come in, set snow, and threaten a Pokemon such as Meowscarada or Dragapult. Swords Dance lets you threaten Pokemon trying to set up on you, and Earthquake is just generally a good option, threatening Kingambit with coverage for both Tera Fire and Flying with the Ice / Ground coverage. EQ+Shard has been great to catch opponents switching in Cinderace predicting the Aurora Veil (they would like to Court Change it). Properly predicting the swap with an EQ, then Sharding, KO's. Tera Water is great to soak Fire hits and is generally just a good defensive option, and needed to help the team deal with Quaquaval. I tera this mon in probably half my games.
Hatterene (F) @ Eject Button
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Nuzzle
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
This team pretty much instant loses to hazards, because Ice is an awful typing to have with Stealth Rocks. Hatterene gives your opponent pause when setting them, and gives you an option to prevent them. Eject Button is great with this team, as you can set snow + veil on Abomasnow, hard switch hat into button, and proceed to sweep behind Veil + Snow on either Bax or Cetitan. Standard Hatterene but very useful for the team.
Great Tusk @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
This is a very functional set for this team. As mentioned previously, the team has a really tough time with hazards and Focus Sash Great Tusk is a great option to dismantle Glimmora leads, with Headlong + Spin. Having a Focus Sash Pokemon is also generally useful to dispatch speed boosted threats, as you can take a hit with sash, HLR or CC and finish them off with an Ice Shard on Cetitan or Abomasnow.
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
I feel this Pokemon is probably going to be the first to be cut, but for now, it is often your lead. Unless you see a Pokemon such as Glimmora, or you are concerned about chipping it early, then I would lead with another option. Chomp is generally just a super strong option against most leads in the meta, such as Meowscarada (except Play Rough CB). This lets us establish some momentum out of the gate instead of leading Abomasnow and wasting our Eject Button early. Additionally, the Life Orb damage helps break Pokémon like Dondozo which can be a real problem for the team. This was originally a Specs Walking Wake to fulfill that function, which helped against competing weather teams. However, I've just found it to be too easy for teams to deal with WW at the moment, and being choice locked was losing me a lot of momentum. I definitely see a universe where this Pokemon gets changed out for a stronger special threat (maybe Volcarona, Hydreigon, even Killowattrel or Sandy Shocks perhaps) as the team is in dire need of a powerful special wallbreaker. It's losing hard to Water Garg.
So, the team has some flaws. It can definitely use some work, but it is a lot of fun if you are looking for a change of pace.
I will edit the post with some replays shortly.
Edit: I'll update replays accordingly as I get them, team is changing so expect some changes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1826894416
Thank you, and I hope some of you will have fun with the team.
After I got my suspect reqs, I was a little burned out and wanted to have some fun. I was playing with some very silly Pokemon like Slaking, Cryoganal, and other other awful options. While screwing around with some questionable teams and Pokemon, I was so impressed by Cetitan's sweeping potential that I wanted to give Snow a shot. I've been floating around 1650-1750 with the team, which is a bit lower than where I usually sit with a polished meta team, but it has been a blast and I see a lot of potential. I would really appreciate some help from some smart teambuilders, as I have been enjoying myself a lot with the team. Perhaps snow isn't going to get much better, but I believe there is definitely something here. My teambuilding skills are not as honed as some of you, so any advice would be very appreciated.
Link to the original team: https://pokepast.es/1375fe53d1a01b05
Edit: LINK TO THE CURRENT TEAM- https://pokepast.es/898a4286fbdf1b96
Baxcalibur @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Glaive Rush
- Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
A pretty obvious choice for a snow team. Baxcalibur gives the team a fighting chance against Skeledirge, with Thermal Exchange to stop Will-o-Wisp and Earthquake coverage to hit back. I choose to run a DD Bax over a banded one, because I feel there is a bit too much momentum loss with the banded set for this team once the Eject Button is used. DD boosting is just a better use of the snow + Aurora Veil than hitting one Pokemon hard and switching out. I opted to run a Loaded Dice over HDB, as I like the damage + Icicle Spear to bust sashes when sweeping, and if my opponent does get rocks up, it's usually gg with the rest of the team anyway. I choose to run Glaive over Ice Shard for now, but I have been alternating back and forth fairly frequently. I like Ice Shard against priority users when sweeping and the option of killing a chipped speed boosted sweeper with Adamant Bax damage, but have decided on Glaive Rush anyway to help wallbreak.
Cetitan @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Slush Rush
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Def / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Tera Blast
Usually the star of the show. Belly Drum Cetitan is a criminally underrated Pokemon. With this EV spread, Slush Rush brings its speed up to 452, and its unboosted Speed is still a fairly formidable 226. With 452 boosted speed you outrun almost anything in the metagame, and anything you can't wouldn't make a difference even with 252 Speed EV's (such as Booster'd Iron Valiant or +1 Timid Volc). Perhaps there is some tweaking I can still do with the Speed/Def EV's, but it has been very good. Tera Fire is a great defensive typing, giving it an option to stop offensive Steel and Fire moves behind Aurora Veil to Belly Drum. A solid belly drum is usually gg. Tera Blast adds some additional STAB coverage. Been seeing a lot of Tera Water Tusk dealing with this set well, so I might rethink the typing a bit.
Abomasnow @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Swords Dance
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
I chose to run Abomasnow over Slowking as my Snow setter. I like the idea of Slowking, and having a Water/Psychic type compliments the team very well. But, in practicality, having the ability to immediately get up Snow is a much more consistent option for the team. It also can run Aurora Veil, which helps Cetitan and Baxcalibur set up and win. Abomasnow is suprisingly useful on its own, with STAB Ice Shard being a great option to have, letting you come in, set snow, and threaten a Pokemon such as Meowscarada or Dragapult. Swords Dance lets you threaten Pokemon trying to set up on you, and Earthquake is just generally a good option, threatening Kingambit with coverage for both Tera Fire and Flying with the Ice / Ground coverage. EQ+Shard has been great to catch opponents switching in Cinderace predicting the Aurora Veil (they would like to Court Change it). Properly predicting the swap with an EQ, then Sharding, KO's. Tera Water is great to soak Fire hits and is generally just a good defensive option, and needed to help the team deal with Quaquaval. I tera this mon in probably half my games.
Hatterene (F) @ Eject Button
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Nuzzle
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
This team pretty much instant loses to hazards, because Ice is an awful typing to have with Stealth Rocks. Hatterene gives your opponent pause when setting them, and gives you an option to prevent them. Eject Button is great with this team, as you can set snow + veil on Abomasnow, hard switch hat into button, and proceed to sweep behind Veil + Snow on either Bax or Cetitan. Standard Hatterene but very useful for the team.
Great Tusk @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
This is a very functional set for this team. As mentioned previously, the team has a really tough time with hazards and Focus Sash Great Tusk is a great option to dismantle Glimmora leads, with Headlong + Spin. Having a Focus Sash Pokemon is also generally useful to dispatch speed boosted threats, as you can take a hit with sash, HLR or CC and finish them off with an Ice Shard on Cetitan or Abomasnow.
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
I feel this Pokemon is probably going to be the first to be cut, but for now, it is often your lead. Unless you see a Pokemon such as Glimmora, or you are concerned about chipping it early, then I would lead with another option. Chomp is generally just a super strong option against most leads in the meta, such as Meowscarada (except Play Rough CB). This lets us establish some momentum out of the gate instead of leading Abomasnow and wasting our Eject Button early. Additionally, the Life Orb damage helps break Pokémon like Dondozo which can be a real problem for the team. This was originally a Specs Walking Wake to fulfill that function, which helped against competing weather teams. However, I've just found it to be too easy for teams to deal with WW at the moment, and being choice locked was losing me a lot of momentum. I definitely see a universe where this Pokemon gets changed out for a stronger special threat (maybe Volcarona, Hydreigon, even Killowattrel or Sandy Shocks perhaps) as the team is in dire need of a powerful special wallbreaker. It's losing hard to Water Garg.
So, the team has some flaws. It can definitely use some work, but it is a lot of fun if you are looking for a change of pace.
I will edit the post with some replays shortly.
Edit: I'll update replays accordingly as I get them, team is changing so expect some changes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1826894416
Thank you, and I hope some of you will have fun with the team.
Last edited:
-> 
close combat / knock -> stealth rock
tera steel -> tera flying
tera ice + ada -> tera ground/fairy/dragon + jolly
consider grass move over sd