SM OU Mega Scizor Balance

[unami]

Hello guys, my name is unami. This is my 1st rmt & I'll be presenting to you a simple scizor team which I made that I believe to be effective in a ladder as well a tournament setting. I've always emphasised on building my own teams since I returned to showdown in sm as I believe there are many good players out there so building your teams can really give you the edge over others when the competition is so tight. Without further ado, let me get on with the rmt.

Dickpincher (Scizor-Mega) (F) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Atk / 164 Def / 16 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost

I believe mega scizor to be one of the best megas in sm ou right now so I wanted to build a team around it. I've tweaked my evs just a wee bit from the standard smogon dex so let me explain. Below is the standard smogon dex set. 16 speed evs allow me to outspeed max speed adamant alolan marowak which I consider worthwhile as 16 is not a lot. The remaining 40 EVs are dumped into def to make scizor as bulky as possible. 56 speed evs on the smogon dex set are so scizor outruns av magnezone which I think is rarely used hence I do not think it is worth using that much evs in speed.

Standard

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Atk / 124 Def / 16 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost

Rest of the moveset and evs are standard so smogon will explain for me.
​

• Running 64 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature secures the 2HKO on uninvested Zygarde with Bullet Punch after a Swords Dance, preventing Choice Band and offensive Dragon Dance variants from netting too much damage on Mega Scizor. 16 EVs are allocated into Special Defense to let Mega Scizor avoid the 2HKO from Magearna's +1 Thunderbolt.​
• Swords Dance raises Mega Scizor's Attack by two stages, allowing it to sweep under the right conditions. Bullet Punch packs both priority to threaten Pokemon such as Mega Diancie and Tapu Bulu and impressive power after a Swords Dance boost. Knock Off is a great coverage move to complement Bullet Punch, as it removes Leftovers from Celesteela, Heatran, and Zapdos, making them much easier to wear down throughout the course of the game. It also hits specially defensive Toxapex for high amounts of damage. Roost rounds off the set, allowing Mega Scizor to heal off passive damage and set up multiple Swords Dances on Pokemon such as defensive Landorus-T and Ferrothorn.​

Arena flapped (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake

I chose choice banded tyranitar as partner to scizor because it can capitalize on scizor checks such as zapdos, celesteela & heatran. I'm aware I could just as easily use something like dragon dance or banded zygarde but I wanted to try out tyranitar as I think it's a lot less common in the sense there have been far fewer scizor + cb ttar teams that actually work well comapred to scizor + zygarde. I want to make a special mention about pursuit on tyranitar and how it can be used very effectively to deal with magnezone which traps scizor which the following replay will show.

Replay

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371785

Moveset and evs are standard so smogon will explain for me.​

• Stone Edge is the most spammable move on the set, hitting even Pokemon that resist Rock for massive damage. The metagame's lack of switch-ins to powerful Rock-type moves increases its potency. Crunch is Tyranitar's secondary STAB move and hits many threats neutrally, making Tyranitar even harder to switch into safely. Pursuit makes Tyranitar a fearsome trapper, as any targets weak to Dark or less bulky and neutral are heavily damaged if not OHKOed upon switching out. Notable targets include Latios, Alolan Marowak, and Choice-locked Tapu Lele. gets include Latios, Alolan Marowak, and Choice-locked Tapu Lele. The final moveslot is fairly flexible. Earthquake allows Tyranitar to defeat certain Pokemon that resist its STAB attacks, such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Bisharp.​
• The HP investment allows Tyranitar to always avoid being OHKOed by a +1 Bug Buzz from Volcarona. Maximum EVs in Attack and an Adamant nature to give Tyranitar the most potential to break through the opponent's team. The remaining EVs are dumped into to Speed to outrun defensive Pokemon such as Clefable and Skarmory​

Fluffy pink poosy (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind

Clefable is my stealth rocker, which is mandatory in competitive mons. I think it is a great fit because it can take earthquake from zygarde, defensive lando-t and mega medicham's high jump kicks for my tyranitar. It also does nice things for my team like serve as my zapdos, ferrothorn and gastrodon sponge, soaking up discharge, heat wave, leech seed, power whip, gyro ball, scald, toxic, etc. The standard smogon dex set favors knock off over calm mind but I have knock off on scizor already + 1 of the other team members which I will be going in depth on also has it hence I think it's better to run calm mind here to allow clefable to function as a win condition once mons like heatran and celesteela have been eliminated. Band tar does a good job of dealing with heatran.

Moveset and evs are standard so smogon will explain for me.​

• Moonblast allows Clefable to deal decent damage to threats such as Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham; it also lets Clefable avoid being passive against Taunt users such as Tapu Lele. Soft-Boiled allows Clefable to keep itself healthy throughout the match and switch into the threats that it checks such as Zygarde and Mega Lopunny. Stealth Rock lets Clefable support its team by garnering residual damage for teammates to take advantage of; Clefable is a notable setter of Stealth Rock due to its ability to threaten Mega Sableye, a common deterrent to entry hazard setters on stall builds. Calm Mind allows Clefable to perform as a strong setup sweeper due to its inability to be worn down by residual damage as well as its strong bulk.​
• Maximum HP and Defense investment with a Bold nature allows Clefable to avoid 2HKOs from a number of strong physical attacks in the metagame, such as Choice Band Zygarde's Thousand Arrows, Mega Heracross's Rock Blast, and Mega Medicham's High Jump Kick.​

U mother (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 148 Atk / 84 Def / 196 Spe
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Defog

Next up is the necessary evil, which is lando-t. Choice scarf gives me speed control. I have considered running stone edge over hp ice and also hp fire over hp ice and even superpower over defog to deal with charizard y and kartana respectively before but those 2 threats were very uncommon when I was testing the team on the ladder so I just couldn't be bothered to.

Moveset and evs are standard so smogon will explain for me.​

• Earthquake is Landorus-T's most reliable move. U-turn should be used to grab momentum and help teammates get in safely. Hidden Power Ice allows Landorus-T to hit Zygarde, opposing Landorus-T, and Garchomp for heavy damage. Defog is an option on teams in need of hazard removal but can't give up another team slot for it.​
• The given EV spread allows Landorus-T to avoid a 2HKO from Kartana's Leaf Blade after Stealth Rock damage. 196 Speed EVs in conjunction with a Naive nature let it outspeed Mega Alakazam and anything slower with the remaining EVs thrown into Attack for maximum damage output.​

Me horny (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Waterium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Taunt

Keldeo provides a second heatran answer alongside tyranitar which I believe is very important on mega scizor team due to it's quad weakness to fire. it also serves as an ash-greninja check. It also beats celesteela for my scizor. Tyranitar and keldeo form the wall and stall breaking core of my team. This is a classic core used in oras where tyranitar is used to trap (mega) lati@s for keldeo to better spam its stabs.

Moveset and evs are standard so smogon will explain for me.​

• Calm Mind makes Keldeo more threatening, allowing it to defeat Pokemon such as Tangrowth and Mew. Hydro Pump is Keldeo's strongest STAB move and, when combined with Waterium Z, can OHKO Pokemon such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Tapu Lele after Stealth Rock damage and Zygarde and Magic Guard Clefable after a Calm Mind boost. Secret Sword is Keldeo's secondary STAB move, nailing Ferrothorn, Chansey, and Kyurem-B and pressuring Assault Vest Tangrowth. Taunt rounds off the set, allowing Keldeo to defeat Haze Toxapex and Mantine while stopping potential Defogs from Pokemon such as Mew and Mega Scizor. It is also nice for avoiding Leech Seed from the likes of Celesteela and stray Toxics.​
• Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature is mandatory to be as fast as possible. The remaining EVs are put in Special Attack to hit as hard as possible. Waterium Z grants Keldeo a 185-Base Power Hydro Vortex, allowing it to heavily weaken or nuke its conventional counters and checks. Justified is Keldeo's only available ability, and it is a useless one.​

Give me love (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off

Ferrothorn completes the team, providing spikes support, which greatly increases chance of mega scizor being able to sweep and serving as another steel type on the team to check tapu lele and koko and lastly, another ash-greninja check. I have considered thunder wave on ferrothorn to deal with volcarona and hawlucha but I didn't think it was necessary because of every 10 ladder games 1 plays, 1 meets 0-1 volcarona. With hawlucha, I have a clefable + scizor's bullet punch to check it. I want to make a special mention why ferrothorn + sd mega scizor + cb ttar make such a great trio. When magnezone traps the ferrothorn, what I will do is simply set spikes on it. Since most magnezone are scarf, I will then pursuit the zone for a massive 75% with ttar. Next time it's coming back into all the hazards, it's not trapping anything! Just in case you have not watched this replay, I suggest watching this replay as it covers how to deal with magnezone which is a huge roadblock stopping scizor from sweeping.

Replay

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371785

Moveset and evs are standard so smogon will explain for me.​

• Spikes allows Ferrothorn to pressure the opposing team via residual damage when switching. This is the recommended hazard, as Ferrothorn gets many opportunities to set it up, and the ability to stack layers allows it to use these free turns better than Stealth Rock variants. Leech Seed provides Ferrothorn with a way to restore HP and is particularly helpful for wearing down Pokemon such as Heatran. Power Whip is the main STAB move due to its ability to OHKO Ash-Greninja and deal large amounts of damage to Tapu Fini and Manaphy. Knock Off removes the items of common switch-ins such as Heatran, Tangrowth, and Celesteela, which limits their effectiveness.​
• Maximum HP investment improves Ferrothorn's overall bulk, while 208 Special Defense EVs and a Careful nature ensure that Ash-Greninja's Dark Pulse does not 2HKO it. The rest of the bulk is poured into Defense.​

I will now cover the threats to this team which are as follows.

Charizard y - No switchin whatsoever, try to pivot around like focus blast on ttar into scarf lando-t. I have considered stone edge on scarf lando-t but as I have mentioned I did not bump into this often.
Av magearna - Tough to switch into, just have to predict what move it will go for and act accordingly.
Mega mawile - No switchin whatsoever, try to pivot around it.
Volcarona - Autolose! I have considered thunder wave on ferrothorn but as I have mentioned out of every 10 ladder games, chances of meeting a volcarona are 0-1.
Kartana - Sd variants are very dangerous to the team. The main reason why I did not run lures such as superpower/hp fire on scarf landot or even hp fire on ferrothorn is because I did not bump into this often.

Replays are as follows.

I made it to round 5 of smogon tour just with this team and forgot to hide my game at the 4th game so I'm not sure if that contributed to me losing. I also flipped a coin and actually wanted to bring a different team because of that but alas, losing is fine and I said gg to my opponent anyways.

Smogon tour wins

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371702
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371731
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371785
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371820

Loss

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371831

Here are the ladder replays from me testing the team. I am chaodui 超对.

Ladder replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737571876
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737574587
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737833053
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737869984
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737871820
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737875072
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737875746
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-738920620
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-739323572

Losing to volcarona special

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737873250

I hope all my fellow smogon users have enjoyed reading this rmt! Let me know if you have any feedback as well.​

 

[unami]

Hello there i would like to rate your team and hopefully improve it some :).
First on M scizor
Evs-----> 252 hp 252+ def
Offensive set ---> defensive defog pivot set
I recommend this bcz it would fit better as you need a bulky pivot instead of lando and you can free up a space on lando. Also, bulky scizor fits well on the team.

Lando T:
Defog ----> stone edge
I recommend this if you are to change m scizor so you have an easier time to beat volc and m char y.

I hope i helped some!
~ayedan

Hey ayedan, thanks for the rate. I'm going to touch upon the point you brought up.

You suggested the use of a fully defensive scizor set with defog and u-turn over swords dance and bullet punch, stating that:

Scizor set

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

• I need a bulky pivot instead of using lando as my pivot and bulky scizor fits well on my team.​
• Defog on scizor frees up a space on my scarf lando.​

My response to these 2 points brought up are:​

• I have a clefable fully invested into physical def and also a "bulky" scarf lando, hence I think I can afford to run a slightly more offensive spread on scizor.​
• While having u-turn on scizor, which allows it to function as a pivot to bring ou my breakers in tyranitar and keldeo is definitely nice, I feel that I may not necessarily need it as my team I believe, leans towards balance where I have defensive mons like clefable and ferrothorn that can switch into the most commonly used mons, such as defensive lando, oppsing ferrothorn and ash-greninja and setup hazards to slowly wear down the opponent's team to put them in range of my primary win condition which is sd scizor.​
• As sd scizor is my primary win condition, which I use to clean up games, I do not feel comfortable about changing it's set to a utility 1.​
• Running knock off over u-turn means bringing out my breakers is more difficult for me so aside from having to make but I would like to bring up the point that both of my breakers are decently bulky mons in their own right. Aside from having to make risky double switches to get them onto the field (which I will usually only do if I'm on the losing end of the battle), they're able to come in on some of the most commonly used mons. For example, keldeo is able to come in on heatran, ash-greninja if I really need it to and ferrothorn lacking power whip (some players prefer spikes/protect/gyro ball/leech seed so this is actually a thing). Tyranitar is able to come in on heatran, mega lati@s if I predict them not to earthquake and even choice locked hoopa-us, leles and victinis.​
• Having defog on scizor definitely frees up a space on my scarf lando, this is true. I will touch upon that further with the other points you brought up.​

You then suggested I run stone edge over defog on my lando, meaning I would have to fit defog onto scizor, stating that:​

• I would have an easier time beating volcarona and charizard y.​

My response to this point brought up is:​

• I will not deny my team is very weak to charizard y, volcarona and sd kartana. Let me provide a visual of the notable threats again so going through this will be a lot easier.​

Alternative lando and ferro sets

U mother (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 148 Atk / 84 Def / 196 Spe
Naive / Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Fire] / Superpower / Stone Edge
- Defog

Give me love (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off / Thunder Wave / Hidden Power [Fire]

Massive threats

I do not have switchins to charizard y, mega mawile and av magearna so my best bet is to just to pivot around them. In the case of charizard y , I could even try to make a risky play of trying to bait a solar beam targetting keldeo and hard switch into tyranitar which set up sand and forces solar beam to require a turn to charge up, meaning I will be able to take out charizard y with tyranitar as solar beam does not ko a healthy tyranitar. I have mentioned having stone edge on landot definitely makes this easier.
Sd kartana is a huge problem for my team. I could remedy this issue by running hp fire or superpower on my scarf lando or even hp fire on ferrothorn.
I lose to volcarona if it setups to +1 and is packing psychic. By running thunder wave on ferrothorn, I could potentially make myself a lot less weak to it.

• I did mention in the original post I am aware of the fine tuning I could possibly do moveset wise.​
• I think that I could forgo hp ice for stone edge if I was facing a lot of charizard y. I have a physically defensive clefable and also my mega scizor to check defensive lando and also zygarde which are the most common ground types so hp ice isn't the most necessary. This would allow me to keep swords dance on my scizor which I reiterate is my primary win condition.​
• The reason I did not do so is because I did not bump into these mons often on the ladder with the exception of av magearna, which is significantly less threatening compared to the rest of the mons on this list, hence I simply ran the standard smogon dex sets for the most part. Even when I was playing in smogon tour, you can see from the replays I did not bump into any of these massive threats with the exception of mega mawile on the 5th game.​
• However, you are also probably aware mega mawile has no switchin aside from heatran and mega venusaur which I do not have the space to run on my team so I would have to pivot around it.​
• It is not possible for me to patch up every single weakness that my team has. What I can say is the movesets on scarf lando and ferrotthorn can be tweaked accordingly to what is being spammed most on the ladder at any 1 given time. If I were to use this team in a tournament setting, I would change my sets according to what I expect my opponent to bring. As shown in the replays provided, I believe my team is able to cover what is being used frequently on the ladder as well as a tournament setting.​

Thank you for the rate once again. I wish you a pleasant day!​

 

[vso]

hey, extremely solid team! I feel as if SD Scizor is a Pokemon that can carve its way through almost every matchup, and is a thing for every team to be concerned about. I also feel as if giving Scizor and Trapper support was nice to allow many common Scizor checks be handled. I also feel as if the team in general is extremely solid and the Pokemon chosen immensely benefit from each other in many ways. However, I feel like opposing Scizor can immensely pressure this team as Keldeo is easy to weaken, in addition to the threatlist given. Mega Latios can also break Tyranitar and proceed to pressure the rest of your team with either Magnezone support or Hidden Power Fire. Personally, I am not a fan of running Waterium Keldeo without Healing Wish or Hazard Removal.

My first suggestion is to run Fire Punch > Earthquake. Fire Punch enables Tyranitar to hit Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Kartana. This is extremely nice as all 3 of these Pokemon are massive pains to handle on this team. Earthquake was nice to ohko Heatran, however Stone Edge weakens Heatran enough for Scizor-Mega.

Next, I would recommend running a Choice Scarf Keldeo and a Flyinium Z Landorus-Therian. This further eases the Scizor matchup as Scizor cannot set up on it. In addition, Flyinium Z Landorus can lure and kill Tapu Bulu for Keldeo, Mega Latios, and pressures balances in general immensely. Choice Scarf Keldeo becomes the speed control and it has the ability to burn Toxapex to help Mega Scizor win games, It provides a much solidder Volcarona check, which is nice even though you mention you did not face it that often. Scarf Keldeo takes advantage of Pursuit support nearly as much as Waterium Z as it can Scald burn Toxapex.

Lastly, I would recommend running Flamethrower > Stealth Rock. This is nice to further ease the Scizor-Mega matchup and prevent Ferrothorn from stacking up hazards. The team has Stealth Rock on Landorus-T, which also gets Stealth Rock up against stall, and, thus gives Clefable a free slot.

import

Scizor-Mega (F) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Atk / 164 Def / 16 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Fire Punch

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- Gravity
- Stealth Rock

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Stone Edge
- Scald

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off

 

[TheTapDancer]

You're sure you didn't mean to post this in Past Gens? Kappa

Team seems solid though. You have TTar as a switchin to Zard-Y so I'm not sure why you're scared of that (Sand turns off the 1 turn solar beam remember). Mawile gets rekt wide open by Landorus, so does Volc... I'm really not sure what your weaknesses section is all about to be honest.

Now what I'm going to suggest here is going to sound fucking wacky, and that's because it is, but Landorus HP Ice -> HP Fire. This lets you lure in Kart and Scizor, who threaten the team a lot, and weaken them heavily. That, and your team doesn't struggle with opposing Lando, so I don't think HP Ice is necessary.

(Okay now I actually read the post I see you considered this, kudos. But I think it would actually work pretty well.)

 

[unami]

hey, extremely solid team! I feel as if SD Scizor is a Pokemon that can carve its way through almost every matchup, and is a thing for every team to be concerned about. I also feel as if giving Scizor and Trapper support was nice to allow many common Scizor checks be handled. I also feel as if the team in general is extremely solid and the Pokemon chosen immensely benefit from each other in many ways. However, I feel like opposing Scizor can immensely pressure this team as Keldeo is easy to weaken, in addition to the threatlist given. Mega Latios can also break Tyranitar and proceed to pressure the rest of your team with either Magnezone support or Hidden Power Fire. Personally, I am not a fan of running Waterium Keldeo without Healing Wish or Hazard Removal.

My first suggestion is to run Fire Punch > Earthquake. Fire Punch enables Tyranitar to hit Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Kartana. This is extremely nice as all 3 of these Pokemon are massive pains to handle on this team. Earthquake was nice to ohko Heatran, however Stone Edge weakens Heatran enough for Scizor-Mega.

Next, I would recommend running a Choice Scarf Keldeo and a Flyinium Z Landorus-Therian. This further eases the Scizor matchup as Scizor cannot set up on it. In addition, Flyinium Z Landorus can lure and kill Tapu Bulu for Keldeo, Mega Latios, and pressures balances in general immensely. Choice Scarf Keldeo becomes the speed control and it has the ability to burn Toxapex to help Mega Scizor win games, It provides a much solidder Volcarona check, which is nice even though you mention you did not face it that often. Scarf Keldeo takes advantage of Pursuit support nearly as much as Waterium Z as it can Scald burn Toxapex.

Lastly, I would recommend running Flamethrower > Stealth Rock. This is nice to further ease the Scizor-Mega matchup and prevent Ferrothorn from stacking up hazards. The team has Stealth Rock on Landorus-T, which also gets Stealth Rock up against stall, and, thus gives Clefable a free slot.

Hey vsomani, thanks for the rate.

You are right sd scizor is a threat if the opponent plays it out well and is able to weaken my keldeo to the point it cannot check scizor anymore. If push comes to shove it would turn into an sd scizor mirror match. Only replay I got of me facing a scizor was where the guy played very impatiently imo with his mons so I can't tell how well it would have gone if he was patient.

• https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737875746

Your rates do patch up certain things like opposing my sd scizor weakness, definitely but I think you have to acknowledge as well this makes certain mons harder to deal with.

• Toxapex and toxic spikes - I noticed the lag of defog with these edits and I immediately thought of the ladder game vs valentine. I had a very strong feeling her latias was a substitute set in conjunction with cm / stored power / recover, u know the usual stuff. 252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Pursuit vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Latias-Mega: 188-224 (51.6 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage Pursuit actually does pitiful damage considering banded and I defogged the tspikes away for this very reason as I did not want to risk the off chance she was able to beat my tyranitar with the tspikes. If i were to forgo, I can see matchups like these being potentially trickier aside from letting tyranitar and keldeo get poisoned immeidately.
• https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-737833053

• Celesteela and toxapex aka. scizor checks - I did not mention this because I forgot to but having keldeo as a scarfer makes dealing with both of these harder. Granted I have gravity on landot but it is not uncommon for a celesteela team to have more than 1 landot check like they may have a defensive landot. Also scarf keldeo invites toxapex in for free to get free regen which makes it a lot harder to wear down + toxic spikes that I mentioned earlier. I rely on keldeo partially to defeat both of these mons. Also hazard stacking pairs extremely well with taunt keldeo.

Once again, I acknowledge:

• Fire coverage on my mons definitely make dealing with opposing sd scizor a lot easier, making it a lot less likely to turn into a mirror match where whoever boosts up with scizor 1st wins.

To conclude,

• I don't really think this helps with sd kartana too much as I doubt in most cases kartana would want to hard switch in on a banded ttar or boost up on it w/o knowing what ttar wants to lock itself into.

• Lastly, I have never considered opposing ferrothorn a problem as it invites my own ferrothorn in to exchange hazards and also knock their lefties and my primary win condition sd scizor thrives on hazards. As u can see here, my opponent was forced to defog for me.
• https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-371820

I will have to test the changes to see how effective they are. They might be better for laddering depending on what is being spammed on ladder and if I'm playing on a tour, what I expect the other player to bring. I wish you a pleasant day.

 

[unami]

Hi guys, so I haven't played in about 5 months and just came back few days ago out of boredom. I've been laddering with this same old team mostly because I'm out of touch with this game and am not sure how to build a new team. The team has surprisingly been still incredibly effective laddering wise and made me to climb from 1400s from decay all the way to #19 at 1945 relatively smoothly which is just strange considering so many things have changed.

I've been noticing some things my team has been having issues with though.
1. Curse mega scizor means I have to play keldeo perfectly otherwise I get 6-0ed.
2. Steelium z tran is something I have to bait the z move out and play mind games with ttar by pursuiting or if they stay in and just get severely weakened/koed. I've mostly won the majority of such mind games but I don't think this is ideal.

So if anyone has ideas how to fix these issues, please let me know as I'm willing to give most things a try since I'm basically new from not playing for 5 months. Also, here's some replays that the team has been still strangely effective.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-808399115
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-808939849

 

[toshimelonhead]

Nice team! The results on both the ladder and in Smogon Tour tell me this team is pretty solid and doesn't need a ton of changes. I can also tell that the metagame has changed a lot in the last five months and some new trends could help you out. I have two suggestions / metagame updates:

1.) SD Mega Scizor -> Curse Mega Scizor
Curse Mega Scizor is now its most popular and best set. It matches up better against physical attackers such as Medicham and does a much better job against SD Kartana. The set and EV spread below are the standard, but you can run a spread of 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD and an Impish nature to have a better switch in against Tapu Lele, which can be threatening to your team depending on the set.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- Knock Off

2.) CM Clefable -> Thunder Wave

Your threat list consists of mons that Clefable lets in for free. Clefable was outstanding 4-5 months ago, but the metagame has adapted. Offensive teams now have more strategies to punish balance teams for bringing in Clefable. None of these threats are scared of a +6 CM Clef, so I'm thinking Calm Mind has to go. Thunder Wave is the better choice as it can punish Charizard, Volcarona, and Shift Gear Magearna sets thinking they can get a free setup.

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Good luck with the team!

 

[unami]

Nice team! The results on both the ladder and in Smogon Tour tell me this team is pretty solid and doesn't need a ton of changes. I can also tell that the metagame has changed a lot in the last five months and some new trends could help you out. I have two suggestions / metagame updates:

1.) SD Mega Scizor -> Curse Mega Scizor
Curse Mega Scizor is now its most popular and best set. It matches up better against physical attackers such as Medicham and does a much better job against SD Kartana. The set and EV spread below are the standard, but you can run a spread of 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD and an Impish nature to have a better switch in against Tapu Lele, which can be threatening to your team depending on the set.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- Knock Off

2.) CM Clefable -> Thunder Wave

Your threat list consists of mons that Clefable lets in for free. Clefable was outstanding 4-5 months ago, but the metagame has adapted. Offensive teams now have more strategies to punish balance teams for bringing in Clefable. None of these threats are scared of a +6 CM Clef, so I'm thinking Calm Mind has to go. Thunder Wave is the better choice as it can punish Charizard, Volcarona, and Shift Gear Magearna sets thinking they can get a free setup.

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Good luck with the team!

hey thanks for the suggestions i really really like thunder wave on clef it seems to be useful for slowing down things like opposing heatran and charizard y aside from volcarona and shift gear mag so ttar can outspeed them. just sometimes not really sure which to use, sometimes cm on clef is really nice to help force out something like zapdos and sludge bomb tangrowth to get some initiative. i just feel like both really have their uses sometimes its quite lame when i run twave i wish i had cm and sometimes when i run cm i wish i had twave.

as for curse on scizor, it honestly hasnt been useful for me. the immediate firepower to ko offensive mons like koko after sr with 1 sd boost is way too good to pass up and to also pick off other weakened mons with 1 sd boost. i think if i want to utilize curse on scizor i might have to remake the team.

 

[ItzAdhesive]

Just saying, Kartana is a top pokemon in the metagame currently so not seeing it must mean you aren't very high on the ladder. You have one of the best answers in a potential HP Fire Scizor but that's lowkey desperate af

 

[unami]

Just saying, Kartana is a top pokemon in the metagame currently so not seeing it must mean you aren't very high on the ladder. You have one of the best answers in a potential HP Fire Scizor but that's lowkey desperate af

I went to ladder a bit more, I've gotten some replays with the team. I reached top 10 on the ladder now with this. Didnt bump into sd kartana much. I wouldnt claim the team was giving me results if it wasnt.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-813628841
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-813640364
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-813643176

Think its clear you didn't read the part about sd kartana m8.