XY Competitive Team

Mr. Tricks

Carbink @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Reflect
- Light Screen

I lead with Carbink to set-up and support by throwing down stealth rocks and putting up defence screens. If he manages to last that long I'll cripple further by using toxic. He is quite bulky and I've found he can hang around for a long time without fainting. If he does his job and manages to pull off all four moves, I'll switch him out for a rapid-spinner/sweeper to reap the benefits.
THREATS I'VE IDENTIFIED: Useless if opponent leads with a Steel Pokemon.

Donphan @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 SpD
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake

Donphan serves two roles for me. He is bulky enough with the assault vest to switch into most things. Rapid Spin is obviously to clear any entry hazards, which really helps Focus Sash Weavile out later. Earthquake is great STAB, with Fire Fang for coverage and Ice Shard for priority. He is probably my best counter for Mega Blaziken if he can get an Earthquake on him with Stealth Rock damage and Sturdy.
THREATS I'VE IDENTIFIED: Can't do much to Flying Types, Sturdy is useless if he switches into hazards, very low speed.

Omastar @ White Herb
Ability: Shell Armor
Nature: Calm
EVs: 124 Def / 252 SpA / 132 SpD
- Ancient Power
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Shell Smash

I found him to be a very useful special sweeper. He can sponge one hit to set up with Shell Smash (barring grass attacks) and white herb restores defences to normal. From there it's usually Scald. Ice Beam for coverage of grass types. AncientPower, though weak has been handy for STAB as well as taking down Talonflame and Charizard. The slim chance of having all stats raised is a nice bonus when it works.
THREATS I'VE IDENTIFIED: Getting hit hard before he can set up, switching into a Fire Type using a Grass move, paralysis and burn really cripple his potential.

Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Bullet Seed
- Power-Up Punch
- Spore
- Mach Punch

Standard fare for Technician Breloom. I have tried to make him as fast as possible so as to get Spore off quickly as he is quite frail in defences. Once asleep, Power-Up Punch is great for damage and raising attack (I think it's more useful than Swords Dance, but that's just my opinion). Bullet Seed boosted by a few Power-Up Punches is sensational, and Mach Punch for priority in a pinch.
THREATS I'VE IDENTIFIED: Speed is the biggest one, he'll be 0HKO frequently if Spore doesn't go first. Gale Wings Talonflame destroys him.

Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Brick Break
- Ice Shard
- Night Slash
- Swords Dance

My revenge killer. He works perfectly so long as entry hazards are cleared by Donphan. I let him take a hit to usually go to 1HP, use Swords Dance, then sweep. He is fast enough to outpace a lot of competition, and behind a Swords Dance, Night Slash is amazing. Ice Shard helps check an opponent using their own priority move when he's at 1HP. I prefer Brick Break over Low Sweep for the extra power, plus Weavile doesn't need to slow down the competition that badly.
THREATS I'VE IDENTIFIED: Focus Sash is useless if there are entry hazards (have tried to check this by using Donphan).

Mega Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow -> Thick Fat
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 128 SpA / 128 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Wave
THREATS I'VE IDENTIFIED: Lots of Pokemon resist both STABS.

If Carbink is threatened as an opener, I'll switch out for Venusaur and use him for support and stalling with Leech Seed / Toxic. If he can come in later in the game, Leech Seed is still a must, but I will switch to strong STAB moves. Energy Ball's extra power was preferred over Giga Drain. I considered Venoshock instead of Sludge Wave but it seemed too situational.

****

So this is my first competitive team, also the first time I have invested in EV training, etc. I've played with this team a lot and I'm after suggestions to cover its weaknesses. Hopefully I have followed all the forum rules in my RMT. What I'd like to know is what improvements I can make - open to all suggestions!
Thanks.
 
Glad to see a nicely detailed RMT with solid explanations. I like how you’ve identified all your own threats!


Anyway, to start out with, the Carbink set could serve as a suicide lead, but I have to ask: Why not Light Clay w/ Sturdy? Carbink doesn’t care an awful lot for stat drops so Clear Body really wouldn’t be coming in handy often, would it? I personally would go for the same four moves, in a maximally physically defensive set while running the Mega-Venusaur Specially defensive to cope more with the neutral weaknesses to Fire- and Ice-Types that Thick Fat has granted it. If you’re flexible about who your Stealth Rock/Screens setter is I would personally go for Bronzong or Uxie, with their better typing (despite not as good defenses) or perhaps going to Claydol with Rapid Spin as well, so that you don’t need to run that Donphan who, in my opinion, lacks the offense to be particularly useful with that Assault Vest (though Claydol’s longevity is even more dubious).


Moving on, Donphan just strikes me as particularly weak, and I think running a spinner such as Tentacruel, who can resist something like Infernape’s STABs, would be a better choice, having better special bulk anyway (which I guess is what you were trying for with the Assault Vest) and has access to T-Spikes and Scald.


Next up is Omastar, and I really like the idea of a Shell Smasher on this team, because with one turn your opponent could be completely obliterated. In addition, Oma can also tank Gale Wings T-Flame, something that should come in quite useful considering the rest of your team will have trouble if you take my suggestion of Bronzong>Carbink. However, a gaping flaw appeared to me when I was looking over your Omastar’s EV investments: At an unboosted base 55 (146) Speed, he will still fail to even hit a 300 Speed stat after Shell Smashing, which will leave you open for revenge kills by ‘mons as slow as CB Landorus-T. Now, I see the reasons you have invested in defence, but with Omastar as your most potent sweeper, I would go for 4HP/252Satk/252Spd with a Modest/Timid Nature, just so you can hit a solid 418/458 speed after you Smash. Otherwise, alternate Shell smashers could also be taken into account such as Cloyster or Barbaracle. Otherwise, I also think a moveset with Surf>Scald will be more productive with the extra power (as you didn’t mention you wanted to Burn any switch-ins I assume this will be worth it) and Earth Power>Ancient Power solely for extra coverage on opponents like Aegi, and Surf should be able to OHKO Talonflame and standard ‘Zard anyway.


The Breloom set is solid but I would think that Swords Dance would be more productive that Power-Up Punch, just because Mach Punch already hits for the same damage, and Swords Dance gives more of a boost, ie, they do what Power-Up Punch does just do it better, despite doing it separately.


Weavile and M-Venusaur both look quite solid, to be honest, and I can see the two of them working relatively well together.


Anyway, for Threats I think that Talonflame needs to be taken into account, as well as Garchomp, who can destroy a Carbink switch-in with Earthquake, and take Weavile to an inch of her life, or an OHKO after any hazards, which would break the Sash. Sadly, with the suggestion of Tentacruel, I have opened up an enormous Ground weakness, which is why something like Levitate Bronzong could be considered over Carbink. Another problem is offensive Heatran, which is now being run with Flash Cannon, to destroy Carbink and Earth Power to brutally hit Omastar, wrecking any switch you come up with, as I doubt that Donphan could tank two take two of its Fire Blasts, even with the Assault Vest (though I haven’t checked that). For ‘Tran, you could try Scarfed Dragonite or something along those lines over Weavile, as his type synergy will also be quite good considering your other Ice resistance in Omastar, and can be more bulky than Weavile while giving you a Ground immunity (Focus Sash Mamoswine may still be a problem, though).


Overall, I think this was a good RMT for a first try, and don’t take my word as absolute, since I’m by no means an expert.
 
Thanks for your really solid response, Idiotesque :)
I think you're right about Donphan, I needed something to clear entry hazards and liked him the most because of added EQ STAB. Thanks also for the Omastar EV spread, I'm new to EV training and am still grasping the basics.

As for stopping entry hazards, maybe I get rid of Donphan and lead with Taunt Alakazam?
Perhaps:
Alakazam
Taunt
Recover
Psychic
Dazzling Gleam

Could that work? I do lack a psychic type in my party....

Anyway thanks again.
 
As I said, I'm nowhere near an expert in the Gen 6 OU tier, so if you want to lead with a taunting psychic type my personal suggestion is

Deoxys-S@Focus Sash
Max HP/Speed
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Psychic/another utility move.

To be honest, Deo-S can also competently run Magic Bounce but there's no point really putting it in slot 4 as you should be using Taunt anyways.

Glad I could help!
 
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