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The (Past) Dark Horse Project — Volume 1

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Pokemon Online Username: TimeofEve
Hall of Fame Standing: N/A
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Shaymin
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

Here is the current Shaymin set that I am working with:

Scrafty @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Att)
- Aromatherapy
- Hidden Power (Fire)
- Rest
- Seed Flare

A specially defensive utility set for taking water attacks and being a deterrent to spinners.
 
Pokemon Online Username: XenoDarkHorse
Hall of Fame Standing: None
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Sharpedo, Toxicroak

Sharpedo @Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
-Protect
-Crunch
-Waterfall
-Earthquake

Toxicroak @Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
-Swords Dance
-Cross Chop
-Sucker Punch
-Ice Punch

I've been testing these two on a rain team for quite some time, i'm glad they've stayed under 5% so they can shine now^-^ Sharpedo is greatly underestimated, once it's checks have been weakened, the sweep is fierce and quick. The MixPedo set is walled by Blissey, and other special walls, which is annoying. I've opted for purely psychical offense sets for both mons.

Current Ladder Standing: Unranked
 
Molk, do you use Insmonia? because Honchkrow might be interesting as a Breloom switchin, since he can always outspeed and OHKO...

Anyway, my maximum ladder rankind was 1142. Unfortunately I hit a masive losing streak after this, which brought me down considerably. I was using a Choice Band Aggron as my dark horse, to test the effectiveness of Head Smash in the OU metagame. some notbale facts are that it OHKOs Dragonite (oh yeah, did I mention through Multiscale?) and is an excellent switchin to many common moves in OU: Outrage, Stone Edge, etc. it loves coming into Band/scarf mons on attacks it resists and then blindly firing off a head smash. I also use OTR Reuniclus on my team, which can clean up the holes left by aggron and can even provide him with a semi-Speed boost. My set is Head Smash, Superpower, Ice Punch, Fire Punch. Anyone have any good teammates suggestions?
 
Pokemon Online Username: 0.exe
Hall of Fame Standing: -
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Mienshao, Deoxys-D
Current Ladder Standing: 1000


620Mienshao_Dream.png

Mienshao (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spe, -SDef)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Don't let its looks fool you. Its High Jump Kick is insanely powerful and easily spammable with hazards and pursuit support.

I'm also using Deoxys-D.
 
Cherub Agent said:
Molk, do you use Insmonia? because Honchkrow might be interesting as a Breloom switchin, since he can always outspeed and OHKO...

Anyway, my maximum ladder rankind was 1142. Unfortunately I hit a masive losing streak after this, which brought me down considerably. I was using a Choice Band Aggron as my dark horse, to test the effectiveness of Head Smash in the OU metagame. some notbale facts are that it OHKOs Dragonite (oh yeah, did I mention through Multiscale?) and is an excellent switchin to many common moves in OU: Outrage, Stone Edge, etc. it loves coming into Band/scarf mons on attacks it resists and then blindly firing off a head smash. I also use OTR Reuniclus on my team, which can clean up the holes left by aggron and can even provide him with a semi-Speed boost. My set is Head Smash, Superpower, Ice Punch, Fire Punch. Anyone have any good teammates suggestions?
Click to expand...

Ho stole my Pokemon :P

I'm using a more defensive Aggron with Sub/SR/Head Smash/Ice Punch and it still does pretty well, the only things that suck is the lack of opportunities to switch in due to the weak special defense and common weaknesses. Walls physicals dragons pretty awesomely though, takes like 25% from a CB Outrage without full investment.
 
PO Name: stifmewDH
Hall of fame: none
Pokemon: Mew
Current ladder standing: *** Your rank in Standard OU is 1560/48385 [1146 points / 17 battles]!

Mew @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Psychic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Softboiled

12-5
 
BurningMan said:
Weather ball and Aura Sphere are legal together, raikou got both through the Movie event wich is imo the biggest drawback because being forced to run a rash nature sucks.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that it is a huge drawback. This metagame currently isn't so extremely speed-based that a positive speed nature is always necessary. This isn't DPP. A lot of pokemon (Dragonite) don't go for the positive speed nature and a lot of other pokemon don't have to. Rash Raikou still outpaces positive base 100s and hits like a truck. If you look at the usage stats only Starmie, Landorus, and Gengar will outrun Rash Raikou. Of course things like Scarf Rotom-W are still on that list, but overall there isn't a whole lot that Timid would beat.
 
Screenshot2012-01-03at42326PM.png


just a quick update-
ran into jabba, one of smogon's best, and managed to get the win.
after a great three matches, and 1140 cre, i'm done for the day^-^
sharpedo and toxicroak are doing solid work. they do a very good job of wearing down similar checks/counters.

what do you guys think about a MixPedo vs the Physical one i'm running?
is the metagame OK for a sub/bulk up toxicroak, instead of the purely offensive set?
 
Stick with sd, bulk up doesn't have the raw power and it's usually setup fodder for so many things.
As for Sharpedo, give mixed a try, you won't regret it
 
Matthew said:
I wouldn't say that it is a huge drawback. This metagame currently isn't so extremely speed-based that a positive speed nature is always necessary. This isn't DPP. A lot of pokemon (Dragonite) don't go for the positive speed nature and a lot of other pokemon don't have to. Rash Raikou still outpaces positive base 100s and hits like a truck. If you look at the usage stats only Starmie, Landorus, and Gengar will outrun Rash Raikou. Of course things like Scarf Rotom-W are still on that list, but overall there isn't a whole lot that Timid would beat.
Click to expand...

There is also Terrakion, Virzion, Infernape, the Latis, Espeon, Tornadus and Mienshao. At least for me Raikous 115 base speed was always one of its biggest selling points and having to lose this for this two excellent moves was one of game freaks most cruel decisions^^.
 
MetaGross66 said:
Pokemon Online Username: 0.exe
Hall of Fame Standing: -
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Mienshao
Current Ladder Standing: 1000


620Mienshao_Dream.png

Mienshao (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Don't let its looks fool you. Its High Jump Kick is insanely powerful and easily spammable with hazards and pursuit support.
Click to expand...

k, so I finished building the team and included another Dark Horse in the form of Deoxys-D. It was always overshadowed by it's brother, Deoxys-S, and I felt it could provide support much better than Deo-S ever would have been able to with this team. The set below was designed specifically for this team in that I have a slight Scizor weakness and therefore needed a way to neuter it to allow Mienshao to sweep. Deoxys-D does just that all while spreading Spikes on the opponent's team and crippling things with Thunder Wave to prevent itself from becoming set up fodder by the lack of Taunt (I figured I'd only be using Taunt to stop set up, and why should I do that when can cripple the sweeper instead to Haze it with Vappy?).

15qyixd.png

Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Spikes
- Recover
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
Knock off cripples so many things it's suprising. Suddenly Scizor+Rotom-W doesn't seem so scary.
 
hax is literally shitting all over me, can't even get through a battle without para working at the worst possible moments etc etc ugh -_-

on a side note, scarf Jirachi is weak as hell, but mamo is still amazing <33
 
Oh and one last thing.

I feel as if the definition of "Dark Horse Pokemon" osn't exclusive enough. Under 5% only discludes around 30 pokes. There are many pokemon that you see all the time and may simply be more situational (ie venusaur) which accounts for their low usage. I believe that the underdogs start to come in after the 50 most used pokemon. Right now, it is alakazam, shao (if people even realize that he is below the cut-off for some reason), slowbro, venusaur, etc.: threats that people already know exist but aren't as prominent due to them not being as universally standard. Whereas cutting off at top 50 makes it so obviously good and proven to even be somewhat standard aren't included and true underdogs can shine.

Just my two-cents thougg
 
Cherub Agent's CB Aggron

was using a Choice Band Aggron as my dark horse, to test the effectiveness of Head Smash in the OU metagame. some notbale facts are that it OHKOs Dragonite (oh yeah, did I mention through Multiscale?) and is an excellent switchin to many common moves in OU: Outrage, Stone Edge, etc. it loves coming into Band/scarf mons on attacks it resists and then blindly firing off a head smash. I also use OTR Reuniclus on my team, which can clean up the holes left by aggron and can even provide him with a semi-Speed boost. My set is Head Smash, Superpower, Ice Punch, Fire Punch. Anyone have any good teammates suggestions?
Click to expand...

I think what you need is a Pokemon that can remove Steel- and Ground-types that can hinder Aggron from Head Smash spamming and Reuniclus from sweeping in 4 turns. Your team would like to remove Ferrothorn, Scizor, Quagsire, Hippowdon, and Donphan. I think offensive Heatran is optimal for removing these threats.

Heatran @ Air Balloon / Life Orb
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
~ Fire Blast
~ Earth Power
~ Hidden Power [Grass]
~ Stealth Rock / Will-O-Wisp

You would also want Pokemon that can deal with Landorus and Terrakion, as Aggron only compounds your team's weakness to these major threats. A defensive approach would be packing a Slowbro, whereas an offensive approach would involve packing a Scizor or Pokemon that is faster than them (ie Latios, Starmie, Sceptile, Scarfers).

I'd also try to fit in Aqua Tail on Aggron, since it allows Aggron to 2HKO Hippowdon.
 
Birkal said:
560.gif

Scrafty @ Life Orb
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Dragon Dance
- Drain Punch
- Crunch
- Ice Punch


My Wobbuffet set is tinkered to my liking. I hit 147 speed, which sits comfortably above no investment Blissey, while 28 HP EVs allow for a Leftovers number. I don't remember at the moment why I dumped the defensive EVs where I did, but I will get back to you when I can recall it ;)

I run Jolly Scrafty over Adamant in order to beat out base 110 speed Pokemon after a Dragon Dance. I've also chosen Shed Skin and Drain Punch on this sweeper set to add some extra longevity midgame. I'll post some logs and updates when I get the chance!
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!!! lol the same two Pokemon I'm using!!! (rather that I switched to lol, except I'm not really concentrating on Wobb)

I personally prefer Moxie HJK Scrafty, especially with Encore+Safeguard Wobbuffet. The idea is to come in on Safeguarded status moves and DD once. With HJK, you can actually OHKO just about every bulky water (with hazards). As Moxie builds up, you can just about OHKO the metagame, only having to watch out for Scarf Terrakion, which is easily taken care of by Wobb.

I find Drain Punch too weak, and Scrafty not bulky enough without Special Defense investment for Drain Punch to be worth while. Jolly for sure though, outspeeding and getting the easy KO on Latios (and Tornadus) is awesome.
 
Phew, updated the Registered Users list! There's a few rule breakers out there; remember that all of your Dark Horse Pokemon must be located in ONE POST.


Vemane said:
I feel as if the definition of "Dark Horse Pokemon" osn't exclusive enough. Under 5% only discludes around 30 pokes. There are many pokemon that you see all the time and may simply be more situational (ie venusaur) which accounts for their low usage. I believe that the underdogs start to come in after the 50 most used pokemon. Right now, it is alakazam, shao (if people even realize that he is below the cut-off for some reason), slowbro, venusaur, etc.: threats that people already know exist but aren't as prominent due to them not being as universally standard. Whereas cutting off at top 50 makes it so obviously good and proven to even be somewhat standard aren't included and true underdogs can shine.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm not going to normally respond to posts like this (PM or VM works a lot better), but I feel that this might just be a misunderstanding that I wasn't clear enough about. Dark Horse Pokemon are not something like FlinchHax Dunsparce; I'm not trying to get users to use ridiculously terrible Pokemon. What startles me about the usage statistics is when I see Dragonite getting five times the usage that Hydreigon is getting. Sure, Multiscale and ExtremeSpeed are great, but Hydreigon certainly outclasses Dragonite in other areas. This project aims to break some of the monotony of OU by bringing up the lower end of the usage statistics. Below 5% is plenty of a gap; Venusaur, one of the top ranked Dark Horse Pokemon, is still used seven times less that Scizor, the top Pokemon in OU.

I especially don't understand the part of your post that I bolded. This project looks at the metagame with a critical eye and questions why standards are the way they are. There are people that don't understand how powerful HJK Mienshao is or how great it feels to have Alakazam survive thanks to Focus Sash and OHKO in return. This project is open ended. If you feel like proving that Corsola is viable, then knock yourself out. If you want to show that Jolteon is better than Rotom-W, then that is cool too! This project is what you make of it.
 
Birkal said:
This project looks at the metagame with a critical eye and questions why standards are the way they are. There are people that don't understand how powerful HJK Mienshao is or how great it feels to have Alakazam survive thanks to Focus Sash and OHKO in return. This project is open ended. If you feel like proving that Corsola is viable, then knock yourself out. If you want to show that Jolteon is better than Rotom-W, then that is cool too! This project is what you make of it.
Click to expand...

I see now. I was under the impression that the point was quite a bit different. Hopefully this will help to vary up the metagame quite a bit then :)
 
and hopefully this will break that scrotom core..i feel like i'm puking when i see them.

although i'm currently using them in my dark horse team lol
 
BurningMan said:
There is also Terrakion, Virzion, Infernape, the Latis, Espeon, Tornadus and Mienshao. At least for me Raikous 115 base speed was always one of its biggest selling points and having to lose this for this two excellent moves was one of game freaks most cruel decisions^^.
Click to expand...

I'll admit that I looked at the top 20 and just left it at that (I meant to say top twenty that in OU in my previous post anyway). Either way that's a total of.. what? 10 pokemon who are naturally faster than raikou? On top of that Espeon is used as a more utility role than anything, it doesn't threaten Raikou in any sort of way.

I'm just saying speed isn't everything this generation!!
 
Matthew said:
I'll admit that I looked at the top 20 and just left it at that (I meant to say top twenty that in OU in my previous post anyway). Either way that's a total of.. what? 10 pokemon who are naturally faster than raikou? On top of that Espeon is used as a more utility role than anything, it doesn't threaten Raikou in any sort of way.

I'm just saying speed isn't everything this generation!!
Click to expand...

and to reiterate this, before the OUing of duggy, zam and jolteon, the fastest poke in OU is starmie at 115 when deo-s was ubered.

probably one of the reason why they move these 3 pokes up (OU is getting slower and less fun)
 
Well, I don't have PO (or even my own computer to download it) so I shall now proceed to build a Wi-Fi team around Staraptor!

Fun Fact: Jolly Reckless Staraptor has a higher effective attack stat than Adamant Salamence.
 
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