And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman (5th Gen RMT) *UPDATED*

[Circa]

I wasn't going to post this team until I had all the kinks out, but with Machamp's Pants being down and that testing server having some sort of bug that wouldn't let me bring Sazandora back into play a second time (which cost me the match a few times), I decided that I might as well reveal my team early, and hopefully get some input from all of you gracious people at the Poke Center on how to improve it. Basically, this team revolves around smartly using each member to keep momentum, which usually revolves around checking threats with Politoed, Shandera, and Sazandora until something of mine can finally sweep.

Borutorosu @ Focus Sash
Timid / Mischievous Heart
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Taunt
- Thunderbolt
- HP Ice
- U-Turn

My anti-lead. Taunt keeps those Agirudaas at bay, Thunderbolt and HP Ice beats up the things that I don't really care about, and U-Turn gets me away from the scary things. All in all I really like this as a lead. He does a good job of giving me momentum, and he can also be a threat if he manages to live until the mid-game (which he very easily can). I wouldn't be surprised at all if he became a top 10 lead in the future. He's definitely got the potential to sit there.

Sazandora @ Life Orb
Timid / Levitate
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Dragon Pulse
- Earth Power
- U-Turn
- Surf

An all-out attacker Sazandora set. Pretty self-explanatory. His decent bulk and numerous resistances / immunities give him plenty of opportunities to switch in (Politoed tends to help a lot with this as well; which will be explained later) and then wreak as much havoc as possible before he either dies or is forced to switch out. Dragon Pulse, Earth Power, and Surf provide perfect neutral coverage, and U-Turn sits as filler to help my Erufuun problem, who can do a decent job of shutting me down otherwise.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Mild / Swift Swim
208 Atk / 120 SAtk / 180 Spe
- Waterfall
- Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse
- Signal Beam

My clutch dragon killer, mixed attacker, sweeper, and potential stall-breaker. The Attack EVs allow Waterfall to 2-3HKO Blissey in the Rain depending on its set, the Speed EVs let me outpace ScarfChomp, and the rest is thrown into Special Attack because that's only logical. Hydro Pump is the obligatory move to hammer the **** out of stuff in the rain, Dragon Pulse is chosen as the more reliable move to take care of Dragons. I'm considering Draco Meteor just for its sheer power, but I've had no complaints with Dragon Pulse so far so I'm sticking with that for now. Signal Beam is SPECIFICALLY put on this set to deal with Celebi, who can be a slight issue for this team.

Politoed @ Leftovers
Calm / Drizzle
252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
- Boil Over
- Rest
- Encore
- Toxic

If Politoed isn't at least OU, I will bite off my own middle finger and pinky toe, and even record it for all to see. Seriously, he's just amazing. He usually takes a hit or two before going down, and he provides ample support to the team that keeps momentum in my favor while doing so. Boil Over is the obligatory STAB simply for the burn effect, and is also the main damage dealer if I ever find the need; Rest keeps me alive longer (although it is mostly filler); Encore stops all the threats that like to try and set up on Politoed (which, as you can imagine, leads to their demise); and Toxic is there to manhandle the predicted initial switch-in, which is usually a bulky water or Jaroda (who, as you can see, loves my Politoed without it). He is by no means useless, and I would even almost call him the MVP of this team with everything he can do.

Shandera @ Choice Scarf
Timid / Shadow Tag
4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- HP Ground
- Energy Ball

My main revenge killer. I don't even think I have to explain this thing, because you guys should just already know. Shadow Ball and Overheat for STAB and provide your usual revenge killing needs, HP Ground stops Heatran (I'd use HP Fighting to take out Tyranitar, but it doesn't do enough damage to OHKO if Sandstorm is up), and Energy Ball is basically just there for bulky waters. Shadow Tag makes sure he gets his **** done while also keeping him safe from opposing Shandera (for those who don't know, two Pokemon with Shadow Tag can switch out of each other...at least in 4th gen they do). However! I do have to be careful about playing Shandera. Moreso than you'd think. There are a few specific threats to my team that can take everything out if they manage to set-up, and Shandera's the only one on this team that can give them that opportunity. In the event that more of the threats that do threaten my team show up more often, I might get rid of Shandera for another revenge killer. For right now though, he's staying simply for being so effective.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Jolly / Serene Grace
88 HP / 168 Atk / 252 Spe
- Thunder Wave
- Substitute
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch

The standard Sub + T-Wave Jirachi with a speedier set. I decided to run max Speed to still give me the switch-in to Sazandora that I had with Genosect, but to also get the switch-in to Genosect himself as well. Overall I've found this set to be much more useful than my old Genosect set. In fact, it's basically everything I wanted for the final slot of my team. And I'll likely be keeping it unless something really weird happens and Jirachi suddenly sucks. But I doubt that'll happen.

And you're a moron if you don't know how this set works, so I'm not even going to bother explaining it. But for those who are wondering, it's just about as good this gen as it was last gen. And I love it. :3


Threats I've found thus far:

This is Terakion. He's still a decent threat even with Jirachi in there, thanks to still being able to set up on Shandera.

This is Erufuun. He's not a huge threat, but if Sazandora gets taken out early somehow (it's a rarity to see, but it could happen), then I could be in big trouble. Luckily that doesn't happen too often.

I know there's still probably one or two I haven't found still, even though this list is pretty meager.


I'm still open to any suggestions. Thanks for reading!

 

[Kofu]

Sazandra would probably prefer U-turn over Focus Blast to help it escape threats.

Flamethrower is pretty badly nerfed in Rain, but I see why you have it on Genosect.

 

[Moozle]

My favorite Dance Gavin Dance song :D

This team looks really solid, with its biggest counters not being THAT common. Is Politoed able to take care of Shandera for the most part? How badly are you hurt if you can't get rain up with politoed, or if politoed is killed and tyranitar/hippowdon comes in?

 

[Circa]

Sazandra would probably prefer U-turn over Focus Blast to help it escape threats.

Flamethrower is pretty badly nerfed in Rain, but I see why you have it on Genosect.

Yeah, the Focus Blast switch was more recent. I originally had Fire Blast, but that's pretty much completely useless on this team outside of predicting Genosect switch-ins (which Surf handles rather well anyway). I'm going to try both Focus Blast and U-Turn when I can get back to playing again. I can definitely see the use of U-Turn, but I'll have to test Focus Blast more and test U-Turn a lot before I make my decision.

My favorite Dance Gavin Dance song :D

This team looks really solid, with its biggest counters not being THAT common. Is Politoed able to take care of Shandera for the most part? How badly are you hurt if you can't get rain up with politoed, or if politoed is killed and tyranitar/hippowdon comes in?

It's not my favorite, but it's definitely up there. I think the only ones I like more are Open Your Eyes And Look North and Turn Off The Lights I'm Watching Back To The Future. :D

Politoed doesn't fear Shandera at all. The only set that can manage to 2HKO it is a Specs set with Energy Ball. Anything else is guaranteed to go down before Politoed.

I've never encountered a situation where I couldn't get rain up with Politoed at all, because I'm usually willing to sac him if need be just to get Kingdra in with rain up. As for the second situation, I'm not sure. I haven't actually had that situation arise yet as most people reveal it as soon as Shandera gets its first KO, but I'm sure the situation will arise eventually. The only way I could really see it being an issue, just because I know the way I tend to play this team and when Politoed tends to go down, is if their Tyranitar / Hippowdon is backed up by a Doryuuzu w/ X-Scissor. If it lacks X-Scissor then Sazandora stands a chance, but that's the only way I can get past it. I don't think that's something I can really fix though, outside of putting Skarm on my team.

EDIT for those who read this again: I guess most of my issues can actually be solved by playing Shandera as aggressively as possible. Early Shandera play means I'm likely to bait in Tyranitar and Terakion before I initially play Politoed, which would then let me react to the Sandstorm situation much more easily. I hadn't considered doing this until now because I was too afraid to consider the possibility, but it really is my most optimal solution I think. So the above situation would be very unlikely to happen.

 

[kirbyraeg]

I wasn't going to post this team until I had all the kinks out, but with Machamp's Pants being down and that testing server having some sort of bug that wouldn't let me bring Sazandora back into play a second time (which cost me the match a few times), I decided that I might as well reveal my team early, and hopefully get some input from all of you gracious people at the Poke Center on how to improve it. Basically, this team revolves around smartly using each member to keep momentum, which usually revolves around checking threats with Politoed, Shandera, and Sazandora until something of mine can finally sweep.

Borutorosu @ Focus Sash
Timid / Mischievous Heart
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Taunt
- Thunderbolt
- HP Ice
- U-Turn

This is a really good lead, I agree that this'll become a future standard.

Sazandora @ Life Orb
Timid / Levitate
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Dragon Pulse
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Surf

Wouldn't he benefit more from using his STAB Dark to his advantage over Focus Blast? I actually think giving him Pursuit over Focus Blast and going Hasty/Naive would give him a lot more utility as far as dealing with some specific problem threats, allowing you to essentialy trap opposing Shandera, since he already has perfect neutral coverage.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Adamant / Swift Swim
252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Outrage
- Hydro Pump

This is a pretty standard/solid set, but is there a reason to make it a Life Orb set? I think you could get away with Leftovers since a lot of your other mons have the extra power to set up on other opponents and Kingdra will already have speed from rain. Hard to judge but just my opinion. IIRC 24 SpAtk EVs and a spatk neutral nature let you 1hko skarm under rain, so maybe you should make that change?

Politoed @ Leftovers
Calm / Drizzle
252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
- Boiling Water
- Rest
- Icy Wind
- Toxic

I always am surprised at how bulky this thing is. He does a good job at being a status-spreading tank while giving you rain and burning appropriate threats. XD

Shandera @ Choice Scarf
Timid / Shadow Tag
4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- HP Ground
- Energy Ball

I'd say this is definitely the most effective revenge killer in the metagame right now. You wouldn't need to be quite as careful though if you ran a second scarfer to cover your bases, and treating this as more of a specific trapper than an all-purpose revenge killer.

Genosekuto @ Life Orb
Timid / Download
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Bug Buzz
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt

I don't think this fits your team very well. In general I feel like this team is relatively weak to speed-boosting physical attackers and that you could DEFINITELY use either a bulkier or much speedier mon here. I don't really think you need a Steel here, and I do think that you have too many Water-types here already...so here's my suggestion.

Claydol @ Leftovers
252 HP/216 Atk/40 Def
Adamant / Levitate

Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Explosion
Stone Edge

This gives you a solid counter to Terakion, a decent physically bulky Poké, access to entry hazards that will speed up your sweep with either Kingdra or Sazandora, and giving you a nice trapping target that works well by double switching into Shandera, as it baits out a lot of setup mons and walls that you can blind double-switch into and ruin completely. Worst comes to worst he is a decent attacker by himself and can 2hko a lot of threats with stab EQ or Explode on something with his decent Attack to give Shandera a free switch-in or to ruin a physically weak attacker. He would also be a reliable way to take down Erufuun too by Exploding on it, letting Shandera come in and finish it off safely regardless of what it does. The EVs change, but he needs max HP and probably wants a blend of Atk and Def to assist with his coverage moves+Explosion (because explosion is useless without the -2 in Def during damage calculation). Explosion is important here though simply because it gives Shandera a free switch, which could make all the difference.



Threats I've found thus far:

This is Terakion. He is my team's biggest threat if he manages to get a Rock Polish. He can only get a Rock Polish against Shandera, but once he gets it I'm pretty much done. I have to hope it's Jolly and gets low damage rolls against Genosekuto, Kingdra, or Politoed (if he's still alive and at full health) in order to take it out. There's nothing that my team can really do to stop it apart from remove Shandera, but I'm not willing to do that right now. So I guess I'm sticking it out.

This is Erufuun. Luckily I haven't faced anyone yet who actually managed to use it properly, because if it finds its opportunity, this thing can become a major ***** to take down. In fact, I don't know how I could beat it once it's set up. Abusing Shandera's low HP could work I guess, but I'm not even sure if that would work.

Tyranitar's not actually a huge threat, but he does slow my process down a bit. He can take out Shandera and stop my rain, which is basically shutting down two of my Pokemon at the same time. I do have ways to handle him though, and Politoed's bulkiness means I could very well set up rain later on if need be.

I know there's one or two I missed and some I haven't found, so this will be updated later.



I apologize if I haven't explained things in enough detail (I have a problem with explanations), but I really do hope you guys can help me improve my team. I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks for reading!

Comments in redddddd.

I'm stuck in the old metagame still as I have yet to actually BUILD a new team or really look at these new mons beyond the threats you listed and the ones you used, but...I think my comments are still relevant? :D

very nice team.

edit #10952: In general Erufuun would be really hard to take down but a bulky U-turner->trapper is all it really takes. All the trapper needs is a free switch-in, so even something like Dugtrio could take it down if it comes in after all of Erufuun's +1 priority moves hit the pokemon that's switching out due to U-turn.

 

[UltiMario]

So Politoed has this really fun move called Encore.

I'd suggest trying it over Icy Wind.

 

[PKNintendo]

Wow... this team is actually well made. My only issues are the moves. You aren't utilizing the best moves for your pokemon.

I think I've played you a few times.

My only Issue is your Kingdra set. Dragon Dance is absolutely redundant when you have a Rain Dance boost to outspeed nearly anything. Kingdra doesn't want to waste time setting and just wants to hit really ****ing hard.

Use:
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Rash / Mild
208 Atk / 136 SpA / 164 Spe
~ Waterfall
~ Hydro Pump
~HP Electric
~ Draco Meteor

Genosect wants Rock Polish over Flash Canon (redundant coverage, you aren't getting anything notable) to have a higher chance at sweeping.
Sazandora wants Draco Meteor for insane power.


Aside from that it's a good team.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I don't understand how this team handles stall at all. 5/6 of your Pokes are SpAtk based, which means Blissey almost single handedly man handles this whole team.

 

[Circa]

Wow... this team is actually well made. My only issues are the moves. You aren't utilizing the best moves for your pokemon.

I think I've played you a few times.

My only Issue is your Kingdra set. Dragon Dance is absolutely redundant when you have a Rain Dance boost to outspeed nearly anything. Kingdra doesn't want to waste time setting and just wants to hit really ****ing hard.

Use:
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Rash / Mild
208 Atk / 136 SpA / 164 Spe
~ Waterfall
~ Hydro Pump
~HP Electric
~ Draco Meteor

Genosect wants Rock Polish over Flash Canon (redundant coverage, you aren't getting anything notable) to have a higher chance at sweeping.
Sazandora wants Draco Meteor for insane power.


Aside from that it's a good team.

Flash Cannon was added because of Terakion. I got completely swept by it in a match because it was able to come in on Genosect and get in a Rock Polish. So I changed the move. Not only that, but I don't remember a match where I found time to set up a Rock Polish with him (as in I used to have it).

The Kingdra set is meant to revenge kill dragons and take down stall mainly, although with Nattorei existing now it's not going to be as easy to do so. And I haven't played at all recently (I've seriously been so busy since I posted this team that even finding time to sleep is difficult), so I haven't been able to mess with any new sets or anything that people have told me to consider. I'm hoping my time problem changes soon, but it likely won't. Anyway, when I finally get the time I'll test out the set and see how it does. I've been considering a non-DD set anyway, so your set would be a nice place to start.

There will likely be quite a few changes when I finally get around to playing again. Genosect, for instance, is likely to be scrapped.

I don't understand how this team handles stall at all. 5/6 of your Pokes are SpAtk based, which means Blissey almost single handedly man handles this whole team.

Politoed outstalls Blissey so long as they don't start adapting to Politoed's existence and carry Thunder. You're right though. This team doesn't like stall much. And I know that. I plan on changing a bit of stuff around to handle it, but like I said I just haven't had the time at all. Changes will probably come in the next couple of weeks if I'm finally not busy again.

 

[Circa]

The team has been updated! :D

For those wondering what's changed without wanting to look through the OP, I'll lay it out for you.

Sazandora was given U-Turn over Focus Blast to give me something more stable for dealing with Erufuun. Sazandora never got to see a Tyranitar anyway. Oh! And I added Jirachi, who Tyranitar doesn't really like.

Kingdra was changed to a Mixed Attacker set that's running Waterfall, Hydro Pump, Dragon Pulse, and Signal Beam. Draco Meteor isn't going on the set due to my hatred for all-out attacking sets getting their dominant attacking side weakened (this is also why Sazandora isn't using Draco Meteor); especially when said set is mainly used as a late-game sweeper. Signal Beam is to put Celebi out of commission, who can give my team minor issues.

Politoed was given Encore over Icy Wind because Icy Wind isn't an option on Drizzle Politoed like it was before. Drat. >

Genosect was replaced with Sub + T-Wave Jirachi, and it seems to be exactly what I've been looking for.