SM OU Peace! - Z-Celebrate Victini Super Squad (peak 1500)

[mouldytater]

Peace! - Z-Celebrate Victini Super Squad​

Hi everyone!

This is my 4rd RMT now, I think. My first two RMTs didn't get much attention at all, and that's likely because of the overall unattractiveness (is that a word?) of the RMT (and my lack of ability to create actual viable pokemon teams). My third RMT got a bit more attention (1 comment!!) so my new style of making RMT's was definitely working (and my ability to create somewhat okay teams).

I feel that Z-Celebrate Victini is an underrated, powerful and potent set-up sweeper that not a lot of teams are actually prepared for. I decided to make a team around it, and I won the majority of my games. The whole idea was to weaken the opponents team, and when I saw an opportunity (such as choice users locked into the wrong move) I would attempt to set-up and sweep with Victini. It worked amazingly well, mainly because most teams that I fought weren't prepared for it. Anyway, enjoy!

Teambuilding Process

Don't think I need to put much description here, as the team is built around it.

I chose Weavile to be Victini's partner-in-crime. Mega-Latios is a huge issue for Victini, as it resists Victini's dual STAB combination (and its filler move; Focus Blast). Weavile can Pursuit-trap and kill Latios-M with ease, making the Victini sweep a heck of a lot easier. Despite Victini at +1 being quite deadly, it still fails to KO Garchomp and Zygarde. Weavile takes care of these mons and others such as Landorus, Gliscor etc. Overall a solid partner for Victini.

To complete the offensive trio, I chose Hoopa-U. While it shares Psychic and Dark typing with Victini and Weavile respectively which can result in lack of coverage, I think this monster fits on the team quite well. I chose it mainly because I love the idea of Specs Hoopa being able to pick up a kill basically every time it comes in, if not just putting holes in the opponent's team to help Victini muscle through bulkier mons.

I realised that if I wanted to take advantage of opportunities where Victini could potentially come in and sweep, I needed a way to bring it in safely. I chose Rotom-W for the job, and as a general utility mon with great bulk. It's able to clear Rocks which both Weavile and Victini don't appreciate, cripple physical attackers to make Victini's job of setting up easier, and most importantly, give Victini a slow Volt Switch to allow it to set-up.

Tangrowth is and always has been an absolute beast. With the combination of a huge HP stat, great Def and Sp.Def stats (with an AV), and Regenerator, it serves a pivot and a special wall. It has great coverage with okay attacking stats, which actually allows it to not only tank many hits, but fight back with its own moves. Also, another Zygarde check can't hurt.

For the final member of the team, I chose Heatran. I used him for the utility and another solid defensive mon. I'm debating whether I should run a more offensively inclined Heatran, but I've got a general utility set for now.

Super Squad

Victini @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Focus Blast
- Stored Power

The star of the team, and the reason behind the name of the team - 'Peace!' Normalium-Z works in conjunction with Celebrate (which, by the way, Smogon, DOES have a competitive use, same for Happy Hour, Hold Hands, etc.) to give Victini it's power. Stored Power has a 120BP after boosting, which is absurd. Searing Shot is used over Fire Blast for its accuracy and chance to burn. Focus Blast is used as a coverage move to hit Heatran and the likes, and gets a slight accuracy boost from Victory Star. The EV spread is pretty self-explanatory. Timid Nature is needed to outspeed Lando and other 90-100 base Speed mons.

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Ice Shard

Weavile Pursuit-traps Mega-Latios, which is a huge issue for Victini. It also serves as my check to many common threats in the tier, such as Zygarde, Garchomp, Landorus and Gliscor. Knock Off is his most powerful Dark STAB, and Icicle Crash is his most powerful Ice STAB. Pursuit is needed to make Weavile work, and Ice Shard is for priority to pick off weakened mons. I prefer Life Orb over Choice Band as I don't like to be locked into Pursuit if i mispredict.

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

People seriously underestimate the power of this monster. Every time it comes in, it either gets a guaranteed kill or severely damages opposing Pokemon, so Weavile or Victini can clean up. Dark Pulse is extremely spammable, and few mons can take a hit from it. Psyshock and Psychic is needed for Chansey, and this beast doesn't need too much coverage. Once again, the EV spread is to let Hoopa hit as hard and as fast as possible. Choice Specs gives him immense power and wallbreaking abilities.

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

Rotom-W is the team's Defogger, and quite a reliable one, I must say. Its great bulk allows it to stomach hits and give Victini or other mons a slow Volt Switch. Will-o-Wisp allows it to cripple physical attackers. 56 Speed EV's are to outspeed Adamant Tyranitar. The rest are poured into HP and Defense with a Bold nature. Hydro Pump for *unreliable* STAB and Volt Switch for momentum.

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Earthquake

This mon is broken lol. With Assault Vest it becomes absurdly bulky and has very good coverage with decent attacking stats. Regenerator allows it to consistently pivot in and out of attacks to allow Victini and others to come in and maintain momentum. 28 EVs in Defense allows Tangrowth to live a +1 Devastating Drake from Adamant Zygarde at full health. Rest are put into Sp.Def and HP. Be wary of Greninja, as it may be Protean running Gunk Shot rather than Battle Bond.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

The final member for this team is Heatran. My team was missing a rocker and Heatran provides good utility for the team. Magma Storm allows Tran to trap Steel types such as Celesteela. Earth Power provides coverage against opposing Heatran and other mons. Taunt to break annoying mons like Chansey, and Stealth Rock is fairly obvious. Overall a solid mon.

Threats

Protean Greninja is problematic for my team, especially scarf variants, as my Weavile is unable to outspeed it. You need to play around it and predict a fair bit. I haven't seen any other major threats other than that, but if I notice more I'll edit the post.

So that's it! Thanks for taking the time to read this, and hopefully you'll have some time to give some feedback on how I can improve the team! Have a good day!

Importable

https://pokepast.es/4cbace34fc5316fd

 

[Twilight]

Hey really nice team you have here mouldytater I am also a huge fan of using victini, while I haven't used the normalium Z variant as much Victini is undoubtedly one of my favourite Pokemon to use. So I play-tested the team out a bit and the team has quite a few strengths but some match-ups I have struggled with. Primarily being due to how weak your team is to U-turn thus why Protean Greninja does annoy this team. Zygarde has also been very problematic to deal with as well as some fire types such as both Zards and Blacephalon.

Threats

You've already listed Greninja so I won't add to that but here are a few Pokemon I came across that were troublesome.

Charizard X / Y have been big issues, more so for Zard X if it has DD + 3 Atks. One DD is enough to 2OHKO Rotom, then proceed to claim another OHKO as you need to drop it into Ice Shard range via Flare Blitz. If you manage to get rocks up and stop them being cleared it is manageable but once your opponent clears the hazards for it to set-up I have pretty much just lost. Charizard Y however is more manageable to handle with doubles and pressuring with rocks.

Blacephalon is very similar to Zard where it's pressured by rocks but you don't have the best switch-ins to it's dual stab combinations. The main reason it is problematic is due to how slow your team is, best way around it was baiting out the Z-Move by doubling.

Zygarde is a nuisance as your switch-in is Tangrowth but you don't have the coverage to deal with it. Especially with the recent surge in Glare Zygarde it makes it much easier to beat your set 1 on 1. In most cases it can beat your Tangrowth if you are unlucky with para hacks or it has lefties.

Your lack of speed control has been very problematic as your team is extremely slow which is why I have had issues with hyper offense and fast offensive threats. Without the option to beat those offensive threats Victini has a hard time setting up to sweep.

That's about all I struggled with there are a few other mons like Medicham but Victini can just run through once you chip their team down and it eats a hit. I haven't run across stall in my testing but on paper you don't seem to struggle against it.

Minor Changes:

So my first change on Tangrowth would be to run HP Ice to deal with Zygarde and opposing Lando. I assume HP fire was for Kartana which is also rather annoying to face, but my other changes should help with this. I also suggest using Sludge Bomb as it is overall a better option to beat Bulu 1on1, something you struggle two switch into bar Victini. I then suggest using a Relaxed nature with some defense investment to better deal with Zygarde, Bulu and Kartana.

I feel like Choice Band is normally the most preferable item on Weavile as it minimises how many turns you have left in the match with life orb recoil and rocks stacking up. The ability to not be able to switch moves isn't too much of an issue for Weavile but this change is up to you, but the notable damage increase from using choice band is nice.

I feel like running a more specially defensive Heatran is more fitting for this team, as you otherwise struggle with Tapu Lele and Alakazam, and as I plan to remove on of your dark types it would be a nice change. It also eats hits from Blacephalon much easier. You can also eat an Earth Power from a Modest Heatran and proceed to OHKO it after SR damage. The moveset is the same but just bulkier, if you feel this isn't needed then fast utility heatran can work. I gave it enough speed to outpace the Adamant tyranitar set on smogon but you can opt for more speed for max speed T-tar or less speed if it isn't an issue.

Major Changes:

>

Personally I don't feel like Hoopa fits that well on this team, I found in most cases I didn't end up using it to the best of it's abilities, while it does pressure bulky steel types and psychic types both Weavile and Victini do that retrospectively. I suggest running bulky Scarf Landorus over Hoopa in this case. It provides a lot of utility for your team in the form of speed control and also gives you an electric immunity. It can also check / revenge kill Zard X, and I opted to run Hidden Power Fire for Kartana.

>

I took away some offensive presence with the removal of Hoopa so I feel like substituting this over Rotom-W was best. While Rotom was nice for switching into something like Pinsir I have removed it's effectiveness as a defog user with Landorus and it isn't needed to check offensive water types like Swampert as Tangrowth does that well. Koko still provides you with a Pinsir answer, and better takes hits vs a +2 Hawlucha. It gives more speed to your team as well and I opted for U-turn over volt to guarantee a switch. Shuca Berry gives it the utility to beat bulky ground types like Zygarde if Tangrowth is heavily pressured in the match-up and beat SSS Lando, something Tangrowth doesn't beat for obvious reasons.

Importable

https://pokepast.es/09195568e81ea0c9

That's all for my rate and I hope these changes help you out. I had a blast using celebrate victini, giving me the option to sweep teams with ease due to the additional bulk and sometimes due to the burn chance from searing shot. Overall I think this new team better handles threats without giving up to much with the changes. If you have any queries lemme know and good luck climbing and with your future rates :)

 

[Snowy]

(this is quite long so here's some music to listen to while you read)​

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Overview
• Current Weaknesses
  • Zygarde
  • Kartana
  • Kartana + Ash-Greninja
  • Mega-Alakazam
  • Mega-Charizard-X
  • Mega-Lopunny
  • Volcarona
• Changes
  • Major
    • AV Magearna > Heatran
    • Mega-Tyranitar > Weavile
    • Choice Scarf Landorus-T > Hoopa-Unbound
  • Minor
    • Physically Defensive Tangrowth > AV Tangrowth
• New Weaknesses
• Replays
• Conclusion
• Team Importable

Introduction

Hello mouldytater! I stumbled upon your RMT and happened to notice how much potential the initial concept of Z-celebrate Victini + Pursuit support had, which lead me to attempt bringing out the full capabilities of it. This was then proceeded by me becoming completely obsessed with making this as good as possible, whilst also serving as a reminder of why I only rate on very rare occasions now. I made and tested about half a dozen variations and laddered an alt from about the 1500s to 1950s to make sure the team was effective not only on paper but in practice. I'm fairly happy with the end result given the limitations of the build and that I didn't completely tear the team apart limb by limb and replace everything. With that said, I hope you'll enjoy my rate and be able to get something out of it, so let's get stuck into it!​

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Overview

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Before we can start changing things, we need to identify the strengths and shortcomings of the team and its concept. Z-Celebrate Victini + pursuit support is obviously the heart of the team, as your able to remove with correct play the best answers to Victini allowing it an easier time setting up and sweeping. Then you have a great supporting backbone in Rotom-W + Tangrowth, allowing you to easily pivot around common threats and gain momentum allowing for free switch-ins for your pursuit trapper to claim one or for Victini to set up. Then the team starts to fall apart, as you have Hoopa-U which doesn't provide any beneficial offensive support that your pursuit trapper gives you and can instead take away set up opportunities for Victini by removing Pokemon that it could freely get off a Z-Celebrate on. Heatran is in a similar boat to Hoopa-U, due to its shared typing with Victini and similar targets, it again slashes Victini's set up opportunities in half. In saying this Heatran does provide necessary defensive utility that Tangrowth as well Rotom-W cant provide and gives the team stealth rocks. With all this in mind, we can come to the conclusion that Hoopa-U, as well as Heatran, are the teams weakest links and the main slots we should be looking to replace to fixe up the team's weaknesses. As a side note, the pursuit trapper doesn't have to be Weavile, as long as it can effectively trap the necessary Pokemon to allow Victini to do its thing and thus gives us some slight movement with this slot.​

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Current Weaknesses

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: Because Tangrowth is trying so desperately to compress so many roles, one of those being the teams primary Kartana check with Hp-Fire, the squad has a very minimal counter play to set up variants of Zygarde, especially if it's carrying extreme speed which can easily knock out Weavile at +2 after rocks.​

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: Despite your use of Hp Fire Tangrowth, because your assault vest you actually can't take any +2 Z-Move hit or any 2 CB hits after rocks outside of Leaf blade. The rest of the team obviously cant pivot around Kartana and the only thing that out speeds it cannot kill it.​

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+

: This again boils down to the extreme roll compression your forcing upon Tangrowth. Due to Tangrowth being your Kartana switch in, its bound to get knocked off and then your left with nothing that can take on Specs Ash-Greninja.​

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: This one is rather simple, you don't have anything that can take 2 hits from this thing, outside of Tangrowth which is already trying to eat a million hits from everything. Not only this but after taking one psychic with rocks up, it will be 2hkod the next time it is sent it, forcing you to sack something in order to bring it in and not even be able to kill it.​

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: The game ends once Zard gets a boost and Tangrowth provides the perfect opportunity for it to do this.​

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: Similar to Zam, there is nothing on your team that can outspeed it and takes two hits bar Tangrowth, which is 2hkod with rocks up.​

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: The same reasoning as Zard, it gets a boost and there's nothing you can do to stop it unless it's not hp ground, which most are now.​

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Changes

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Major​

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>

: The first change I made was the removal of Heatran for an AV Magearna, which allowed me to relieve a lot of the pressure you had been inflicting on Tangrowth as well as free it up to run a physically defensive set, which will go into later. AV Magearna is very capable of taking on all the threatening psychics as well as fairies that Heatran was and also blanket check a bunch of Pokemon that Tangrowth was, such as Ash-Greninja. Magearna unlike Heatran does not eat into the pool of Pokemon you want to set up on with Victini, but instead gives you free switches on them with volt switch to make your time setting up easier. In partnership with Ice beam, your ability to take out some annoyances to Victini, like Landorus-T and ensure an easier time sweeping.​

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>

: As I mentioned in the overview, I don't think the pursuit trapper had to be Weavile, just something that could remove the same key targets as Weavile. Mega-Tyranitar does this exactly, as the added bulk makes switching into Mega-Lati@s a simple task and due to it's massive attack stat it can threat the likes of Chansey out allowing you to pursuit for potentially crucial chip if not a kill if it's low enough. Mega-Tyranitar gives you a new rocker after the removal of Heatran, one which can more easily set up rocks verse stall, which is important because the team without Hoopa does struggle somewhat more to beat stall. Tyranitar offers you some great defensive utility, such as a proper Zapdos switch in, Mega-Lati@s check, Blace counter, Volc check, Zard X check, secondary Heatran check and so on. In regards to Volcarona, you have to play smart, go hard into it, bait the z move and sack something else so you can come back in and revenge. This may seem a bit shaky, but it's better than having no answer what so ever. A big thing I love about Tyranitar over Weavile, is that Landos will come in and take the necessary chip/die to ice punch allowing for Victini to sweep more efficiently. I opted for Ice punch on this set over any other coverage options, simply for its ability to smash Zygarde and Lando, which are key mons you need to weaken/remove in order for Victini to go in.​

>

: Going back to what was said in the overview, outside of improving the stall match up somewhat, Hoopa doesn't serve much of a purpose on this team both offensively and defensively. With this in mind I wanted to try to patch up as many of the remaining shortcomings as I could, so Scarf Landorus was sort of a no-brainer. It gave the team a near essential type in ground, speed control that out sped the entire unboosted meta, additional momentum control via U-turn, intimidate to slow down physical offensive boosters and a secondary win con if Victini falls through. I went with Max Attack and Speed over the bulkier variations, because most of what it could check with the additional bulk was handled already and to attack appropriately as a secondary win con it was going to need all the attack it could get. I went with Edge and explosion over other coverage options because I wanted to be able to nail annoying flying types like Zard-y which can bypass Rotom-W as well as M-Tyranitar if played well and explosion was a nuke to remove threatening Pokemon you normally wouldn't be able to without it.​

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Minor​

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>

: With the addition of Assault Vest Magearna, I felt it was possible to drop assault vest for a more physically defensive variant with Rocky Helmet to be able to properly handle threats like Kartana, Zygarde, M-Loppuny, Tapu Bulu, etc. The move set features Knock off over what would normally be Giga Drain, as I believe Knock Off's utility is too great not to run if available to be used. Grass Knot allows you to take on Zygarde, while being able to use hidden power fire to OHKO Kartana and Sludge bomb nails Tapu Bulu if it gets out of hand and your not able to get Victini in on it to set up.​

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New Weaknesses

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: Because the team is generally slow, it provides a lot of chances for Mega-Medicham to come in off free switches and fire off hits which will more than likely result in something dying. You can play around this by chipping it into eq range with Tangrowth Rocky Helmet and then keeping the momentum up knowing your opponent won't want to sack something that can claim a kill at every free interval. You should also be looking to set up Victini to sweep as soon as possible as to not let the game drag on long enough for Mega-Medicham to beat everything to death.​

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: Stall, in general, is annoying to face, but it's not unbeatable if you use your momentum gainers to chip down the opponent's team opening up Mega-Tyranitar to remove Pokemon with pursuit or stone edge.​

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: Volcarona is still a massive threat and needs to be played around with great care. Like I mentioned before, you can go M-Tyranitar as it Quivers and Baits the Z-Bug Buzz as you sack something and send Tyranitar back in to slurp any hit and kill it in return. The other alternative is just to get Victini going as soon as possible to prevent it from even having a chance to set up.​

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: Opposing Rotom-W is surprisingly annoying despite having a great pivot in Tangrowth, simply because grass knot does next to no damage and nothing else on the team can fire off anything to OHKO it. I did play it a bunch while laddering and it's manageable for sure with the correct play which you'll see in some of the replays below.​

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Replays

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vs. :​

A game vs ABR's OLT team, which features a Rotom-W one of the prominent weaknesses I mentioned with the team. I'm able to keep rocks off the field, get my own rocks up and set up a Victini clean with a bit of patience.​

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vs. :​

This game shows how to use and keep up the pressure with your volt-turn core to make quick work of your opponents team.​

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vs. ​

This is verse Ske Mask's OLT team which again showcases the use of volt-turn to pressure my opponent, while also utilizing the knowledge that my opponent will try to prevent this with Landorus-T to gain a surprise kill and the advantage.​

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vs. :​

Here you can see the use of Mega-Tyraniatar in combination with my volt-turners slowly taking apart a fatter more stale based team.​

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vs. ​

Another Rotom-W team being slowly taken apart with some thought and patience.​

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vs. ​

Again we see another stall based team being dismantled through the use of Mega-Tyranitar in cooperation with my volt-turners​

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Conclusion​

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I really liked the initial concept of the team and I had a lot of fun testing, redesigning as writing this up. My only regret is that I didn't post this sooner since I had it written up just sitting on my laptop to be posted. Unofurnately things happened and I wasn't able to deliver this to you as soon as I would have wanted, but I still hope that you're able to get something out of this and maybe take the team for a spin yourself. That's it from me, for now, see ya ~​

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(click for importable)​

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[mouldytater]

Wow, I didn't expect such a detailed and thoughtful reply! Your explanations and analyses really help me to get a better understanding and knowledge of the OU metagame. I'll definitely give the team a try, as always, learning from the replays you provided. Thanks so much and have a good day!