Introduction
Hello everyone, Im EG Jhonx, or mostly know as Jhonx, I came here to fulfill my wish of share and keep in time my best team and what I call very often my Masterpiece build, I chose to write this RMT after some time because this team have changed my mind and vision of actual ADV OU metagame while it is already seen in action by ADV Comunity doing work in almost every matchup. For those who dont know me im an amateur in ADV OU, I dont play ADV since long time but I got taught and trained by Make , a player who dont play anymore but know the metagame since 2004 playing SPL years ago and winning important tournaments outside Smogon, without add too much shit lets see how the team was built following every process.
Teambuilding Process
As I told in Introduction my teacher is Make, in one lesson he ordered me to study actual metagame teams and find an idea that was able to change metagame or at least break most common builds, during that time I saw most used teams were TSS Archetypes and rarely times we can see an Offense archetype being used, after look that I noticed most teams were weak to Camerupt, at first glance Camerupt looked like a bad Pokemon, because actual metagame spam too much bulky water pokemon and stuff that can wall or kill moving first, but Camerupt have access to explosion and after toy with EV's we found it was able to outspeed Defensive Swampert and lot of bulky Pokemon in the current metagame, so we gave a try to the Camel.
After choose Camerupt we thought about the things Camerupt is able to do, it can win alone some matchups and started to find all the threats it have, while it can lure most bulky water Pokemon and its walls, its still weak to faster Pokemon and it doesnt have enough firepower to break Blissey and other stuff without Explode.
We chose to use Snorlax here because Snorlax have high HP base stat and with some EV investiment it becomes a really good SpDef wall, more than becoming a SpDef wall we considered the utility Snorlax brings, being able to Self-Destruct into something threatening and the good coverage Snorlax have.
Metagross was our third pokemon because when we build around a Pokemon, we look into the support teammates bring, and more than the support, we think about how it can create a path to win or how it can protect the main idea, Metagross is amazing because thanks to its natural bulk it creates a role compresion between offensive sweeper and soft wall, also it wall rock types which is obligatory on every good ADV Team.
After pick the 3 first Pokemon we saw that team were going into Explosion Offense archetype so we worked into it, when you build around Explosion Offense the best way to think about it is think you end the game playing a 3v3 scenario, so you have to focus more on how to win the 3v3 than focus into defensive patchs, we picked Suicune because its a good defensive Pokemon and can win games alone with the correct movepool, also this Pokemon is flexible because in this team you can change the sets in order to have better matchup agaisnt some team archetypes.
Since Explosion offense main idea is to take a kill for every Explosion user and end the game into a 3v3 or depending how much Explosion users you have, we opted for use Salamence in this team, Salamence offers a good wallbreaking utility and also its an amazing lead being able to threat Tyranitar, Metagross, Skarmory and opposing Salamence, really important leads, we think "if you win the lead, you start pushing offensive pressure" and if that condition happens, you can win since t1 taking a kill or keeping the offensive pressure with the right plays.
while most players would focus on a defensive patch to the earlier archetype, we thought that run an offensive tool is much better here, the team is built around an Explosion offense so you have to focus on how to win the 3v3, while the best formula is use: 1 Defensive Pokemon, 1 Setup and 1 Rare Pokemon in order to win, we prefered full offensive power, Aerodactyl here brings enough firepower to dont be pasive, it can always flinch with powerful rock slides and the most important thing: It gives you important speed control, Dragon Dance Tyranitar is a huge threat to metagame and if you dont have enough defensive tools for it, all you have left is dont allow it to do 2 Dragon Dance and be fast enough to outspeed 1 Dragon Dance, this is a really important thing to consider, without forget Aerodactyl is a top threat into ADV Metagame due the powerful STAB and flinch percent Rock Slide offer.
Team In-Depth
Camerupt @
Ability: Magma Armor
EVs: 12 Atk / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Explosion
The main idea of this team was build around Camerupt, this pokemon looked interesting because its inmune to electric types, it have access to Explosion and have enough good Special Attack to break through some team archetypes that are spammed in actual metagame, mostly TSS teams that rely on Swampert as fire resist and use defensive spreads without Speed investiment, Camerupt offer a good electric inmunity being able to tank Zapdos and Jolteon Hidden Power, it also can tank very good Jirachi Calm Mind sets and almost any Gengar, Camerupt with max speed can lure slow threats like Tyranitar, Metagross, Defensive Swampert, if opponent have a bulky water pokemon you can explosion on it and give free setup to another pokemon like Agility Metagross or another pokemon that really wants bulky water pokemon down, Camerupt is excellent because it can always open offensive holes and do defensive roles.
Snorlax @
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 92 HP / 116 Atk / 144 Def / 144 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Self-Destruct
- Body Slam
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Punch
Snorlax here fulfill an important role, because Snorlax already have big HP and SpDef stats base, so with a small EV spread it can wall most ADV OU metagame, when we considered Snorlax as a teammate on this team we keeped in mind the excellent movepool it have being able to lure Skarmory and Tyranitar with Focus Punch, and the powerful Self-Destruct, which give you a free kill in the right turn, Snorlax here works as Special Defense wall and as Offense Enabler due to the nice offensive natural stats it have, Shadow Ball is used as coverage because it hits hard Gengar, Gengar can burn it but still Shadow Ball deals a big damage. Immunity as Ability helps to switch into Blissey or another wall that spread Toxic to stall and win, for eg: Milotic, when you play agaisnt Skarmory you have to scout if Skarmory run Drill Peck otherwise this set cant defeat Skarmory, when I use Snorlax here I try to damage all I can the opposing team and use Self-Destruct to take down defensive Suicune or important walls to create offensive holes that can be exploited in late game. Be careful about use too much Snorlax defensively, because it lack of recovery outside Leftovers and opponents can abuse of that.
Metagross @
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Agility
- Earthquake
- Explosion
Metagross was the third choice in this team for lot of reasons: Access to Explosion, Nice bulky Steel Pokemon with powerful attacks, solid Rock resist, its a good sweeper in late game thanks to Agility while Lum Berry protect it from Paralysis or Burn, and the most important thing is that Metagross needs the bulky water slot death to win so Camerupt attract these catching the Explosion in the switch and getting KO'd, Metagross act as a soft defensive switch agaisnt some Choice Band locked Pokemon and vs most Snorlax, for early game dont be afraid of click Explosion, because you already have a powerful Boom Offense with 3 Explosion users and the main idea of this playstyle is remove fast pokemon to win a 3v3 situation, even Skarmory dislikes to receive damage from Explosion Metagross.
Suicune @
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Suicune role in this team is protect my Explosion Offense core being able to switch agaisnt Swampert, Earthquake users, Rock Types, and everything the 3 Pokemon above hates to face, I like a lot Rest + Sleep Talk combination because that makes Suicune unkillable, with Calm Mind it becomes a powerful late game sweeper and get past through some kind of Stall teams, this set threats a lot SkarmBliss cores and dont have many checks, this definition complements incredible with the main strategy of the team which is end the game playing a 3v3 scenario increasing the win % this set have, because this set is walled by Celebi and Roar Suicune but with Explosion u take down them, if we talk about defensive roles this Pokemon can switch into most Mixed Salamence while with enough health it prevents Tyranitar Dragon Dance from sweep your team and totally wall the foes like Metagross, forcing them to Explode and allowing you to scout the explosion sacking a teammate u dont need,
Salamence @
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
- Roar / Wish
Salamence is one of the best pokemon ADV OU metagame have, Salamence in this team offer a good lead position being able to threat the most common leads, it force switchs because opponent always have to scout if lead Salamence run Choice Band, if its Physical or Mixed, Mixed here allow me to wallbreak fat archetypes, I consider that Mixed Salamence is amazing defensively as well thanks to Intimidate + Leftovers, you dont have to fear too much agaisnt Fighting types or about being too frail, I only changed Hidden Power Grass and use Roar because Hidden Power Grass can hit hard Suicune and Starmie, but rarely time you KO and most Suicunes dont get 2HKO'd, Roar allow me to prevent setup users like CM Restalk Suicune, Dragon Dancers or BP Chain when they setup Substitute or the first boost, another reason why you dont like HP Grass and Roar / Wish are better its because this team dont have Spikes support, with Explosion spam the bulky water should be gone and because Dragon Claw deals enough damage to Swampert and other fat pokemon, Wish is an option when you want to keep healthy Snorlax and Camerupt to take more advantage of their defensive roles before Explode, also supports Suicune defensively which is incredible.
Aerodactyl @
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
may look incredible weird in this team, people generally use Aerodactyl with Spikes support or Sand support at least, I dont agree with that at all and use it without that stuff, Aerodactyl is a pokemon that can always win alone games, because Rock Slide flinch % is broken + STAB + CB Damage boost, its the fastest Pokemon in the tier with Jolteon (I know Ninjask exist, but I consider Ninjask irrelevant), Aerodactyl here is good because due its high speed it can be used as a Speed control to threats like DD Tyranitar at +1, it can come in and revenge kill when needed, and because the strategy of Boom Spam removes the pokemon that wall Aerodactyl, even if Aerodactyl cant win the 3v3 it weaken enough the opposing team to let Metagross / Suicune / Salamence end the cleaning, Hidden Power Bug is the best here because it kills Celebi, hits hard Claydol, deals enough damage to Tyranitar and still hit neutral stuff like Swampert or Metagross, using Hidden Power Flying means your walled easier
Threat-list
: Offensive Starmie is the most dangerous threat this team have, Starmie KO Salamence easily with Ice Beam, destroys Camerupt with Hydro Pump or Surf, Suicune hates to take Thunderbolt and Suicune is forced to rest after eat 2 Thunderbolts, Snorlax cant tank more than 3 Hydro Pumps + most Starmie teams run Spikes support, Metagross is 2HKO'd by Hydro Pump and Aerodactyl needs to flinch or chip a small HP % of Starmie to do a safe KO with Hidden Power, to control this Pokemon ur forced to sacrifice something and come in aggresively with a Explosion user or with Aerodactyl, so you create offensive pressure again.
: Suicune is another threat if its not managed correctly, Offensive Suicune after 2 Calm Mind can sweep the entire team, while Rest Calm Mind needs much more Calm Minds to break through your team, if you see a Rest Calm Mind set you have to explosion when you can or you can go Salamence Roar in case its already dangerous, its important to identify early what kind of Suicune ur facing and not let it to setup twice if its the offensive set.
: Tyranitar is not a big threat to this team, but you cant drop your guard when Tyranitar is alive, you have to keep it with maximum 1 Dragon Dance, if it manages to do 2 Dragon Dance you require your Suicune at max health and hope Tyranitar dont flinch, good thing in this team is that Tyranitar cant setup freely because everything will land a powerful super effective hit, another set that annoyed this team a lot was Taunt Toxic Brick Break Flamethrower, Taunt Toxic just wear down Suicune and rest is just coverage but this set is unseen lately so you dont have to worry too much.
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-596740 vs Siglut, PokemonPerfect's ADV Playoff Finals (Wanted to show this because I faced Starmie and if I didnt missplayed or fail Meteor Mash, this team would ve won).
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-595848 vs PkLeech, PokemonPerfect's ADV Playoff Semifinals
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-595608 vs Jabba, PokemonPerfect's ADV Playoff Quarter-Finals
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-574543 vs Watermess, probably for test game, dont remember...
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-578701 Raptor vs Kyundai ADV Cup
This team has been used in very important matches like ADV Cup finals (CyberOdin) and Callous Invitational (Malekith)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-581094 ADV Cup Finals, but I consider CyberOdin played this team wrong and thats because he didnt tested the team before play -.-
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-581094 CI Tour, the issue in this one was the Explosion turns, it was too earlier for some Explosion Malekith did and z0mog did read most of them.
There are much more replays of this team showing effectiveness, but they are from ladder and from minor tournaments, I just wanted to show some replays of how it works, showed replays of the team losing explaining the mistakes, and give proof of the tour success this team have.
Shoutouts
Make , the true god of ADV, thanks for all the knowledge, you just taught me everything in ADV, gracias mamaguevo.
CyberOdin✝ por todos los test, por ser un amigo genial y por usar este equipo en la final de ADV Cup. (Perra de mierda te dije que testearas primero -.-)
Raptor por confiar en mí en la ADV Cup y spamear este equipo ganando siempre lol.
vapicuno for help me in some small changes and help me test the team when I built it.
Huge shoutout to ADV Community in general for be so nice with me and support me in the small time I ve been playing ADV, this RMT is for you all, hope you guys like it and forgive my incredible bad english u_u
