Force of Nature - Valentine     
IntroductionThis year's current trophy tournaments, SPL and OST, started before the XY OU metagame was fully developed. Over the course of these tournaments, we have seen users cultivate new Pokemon, sets, and teams. With SPL playoffs starting in two weeks, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the tier, and what teams have evolved over the season. Watching replays made it apparent that Mega Charizard-Y was a strong Pokemon that had a solid strategy behind it. This strategy's popularity among tournament players, and continued success have provided one of the first 'cookie-cutter' teams of the generation. This RMT will cover different versions of the team, ways to build it yourself, and an in-depth look at my ladder version. Please enjoy 'Force of Nature'. The Team
Latios @ Life Orb Latios' primary function is to remove hazards from the field, giving Charizard and Thundurus room to breathe. Apart from Aerodactyl and Crobat, Lati@s is the fastest Defog user in the tier, which means it performs its job excellently. Draco Meteor offers your team a high damage nuke that obliterates any non-fairy or steel types. Psyshock is a secondary STAB that allows you to exploit traditional special walls, hitting them from their defensive side. This makes Latios a dangerous mixed attacker that can 2HKO a large majority of the tier, including Fairy types like Azumarill and Sylveon. Earthquake, although admittedly suboptimal, is a fun gimmick that is used to catch Heatran off guard. The early removal of Heatran gives you the whole match to spam Zard-Y Fire Blasts. Earthquake also rounds off Latios' coverage, allowing you to hit pesky Steel types, like Bisharp and Aegislash, before they take you out with Pursuit.
Thundurus @ Leftovers Ever since its reintroduction to the OU tier, Thundurus-I has been one of the most used Pokemon at the top level of play. Its superb offensive stats, deep movepool, typing, and relevant abilities make it one of the easiest mons to fit onto offensive teams. Before I talk about this particular set, I want to highlight the fact that as long as you keep Thunder Wave, you can change the moves, item, nature, and EVs around to your liking. Replacing Nasty Plot with Knock Off would probably be the first place to start, since you can bait things like Chansey, and remove their Eviolite. The reason why I used this Nasty Plot set was to bait Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss, and weaken them with HP Flying for Keldeo. Thunderbolt is required STAB, and helps you threaten annoying waters like Azumarill and Manaphy. Thunder Wave acts as an emergency out for fast sweepers like Greninja, Dragon Dance Dragonite, Mega TTar, and Zard X, that can roll through the rest of the team if they get too many boosts. 28 EVs in HP, with 30 IVs for HP Flying, hits a Leftovers number. If you decide to try a Life Orb set, move these EVs into an offensive stat.
Keldeo @ Choice Specs Keldeo is the tier's best, if not only, Choice Specs user. Its exclusive Water/Fighting STABs, only shared with Poliwrath, requires your opponent to have a specific Pokemon to counter you (namely Jellicent, Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, Celebi, Azumarill, Gyarados, Tentacruel, Dragonite or Lati@s). If your opponent doesn't have one of these Pokemon, they will essentially be dropping a member of their team every time Keldeo comes in. The most common Keldeo counter, the Lati twins, are removed from the game by Aegislash Pursuit. Gyarados and Azumarill risk an unnerving 30% burn chance if they switch directly in. The remaining counters are handed beautifully by Charizard, Thundurus, and Latios. While teammates help Keldeo wear down its counters, Keldeo pressures Heatran, Chansey, and Blissey, Zard-Ys only remaining switch-ins.
Hippowdon @ Leftovers Hippowdon is a defensive behemoth with the ability to soak up immensely strong attacks. Even with this mixed defensive spread, Adamant Zard X fails to 2HKO Hippo with Flare Blitz. The special defense investment allows you to take two Quiet Aegislash Shadow Balls. This insane bulk gives Hippo plenty of opportunities throughout the game to set up Stealth Rocks. Toxic, in combination with Sand, allows you to put dangerous sweepers like Zard X, Gyarados, Thundurus, Volcorona, and Mega Tyranitar on a clock. Earthquake allows you to threaten Mega Mawile, Bisharp, Zard X, Heatran, Excadrill, Aegislash, and Tyranitar. Slack Off is superb recovery that helps you wear down sweepers that have already been crippled by Toxic. Although it is not featured on my move set, Stone Edge is a great option to consider over Toxic. For starters, it rounds off the unresisted QuakeEdge coverage. But more specifically, it lets you OHKO Mega Pinsir, Talonflame, Volcorona, Zard switch-ins, and heavily damage Thundurus. Stone Edge also permits Hippo to beat common Balloon users like Excadrill, Heatran, and Aegislash on its own. Scarf Garchomp can be used in this slot to patch the team's Greninja and Thundurus weakness.
Aegislash @ Leftovers Aegislash, one of the only competitive minded Pokemon we have been gifted, acts as the team's only Steel type. This makes it a primary switch-in to a lot of attackers, namely Lati@s, Mega Gardevoir, Azumarill, Terrakion, Alakazam, and Deoxys-S. Its main function on the team is to force damage onto Lati@s with Pursuit, which allows Keldeo and Zard to spam attacks freely. Aegislash finds a lot of free switch-ins thanks to its excellent typing and bulk, allowing you to spam Shadow Ball, which 2HKOs most of the meta. Aegi's main problem, Bisharp, is dealt with handily by Hippo and Keldeo. Iron Head allows you to hit Clefable for consistent damage, but honestly if it's Magic Guard you're pretty fucked. Toxic can be used instead to hit Mandibuzz, Zapdos, and Unaware Clef, but Magic Guard still beats this team. Bisharp can be used in this slot to patch the Clefable weakness.
Charizard @ Charizardite Y After the initial bans, Charizard-Y was one of the most threatening Megas in the tier. The metagame has shifted away from it, opting for mons with better typing, but unprepared teams still get demolished by Zard. The team supports Zard very well, keeping hazards off the field, and weakening its counters, which helps Zard apply offensive pressure and score a plethora of KOs. Its unresisted coverage gives it very few switch-ins, and even Dragons can be hit hard if you bother to run Dragon Pulse or Air Slash. The physical set, Flare Blitz | Earthquake | Solarbeam helps you break Chansey and friends easier, but the Special set is much more consistent. Specs Keldeo already puts a lot of pressure on stall, and once you wear down Venu the game is pretty much over. Importable |