My First Team

[∫unk]

*Sorry if I put this in the wrong place or wrong format. Also, I didn't know where to find the pokemon pictures so I just put text *

So to give a quick background, I mostly play shoddy for fun but I wouldn't mind entering a pokemon tournament. However, like playing melee, I just don't have enough time to be good in pokemon, and I'm content getting slowly better.

Usually I'll play Shoddy whenever I'm just lounging around (ex. waiting for my turn to play at a smashfest, checking Smashboards/AiB/etc.), so I end up playing at least once every day.

I know basic things, but I haven't memorized (for example) how much percent a Timid Celebi w 1 CM will do to a Scarf T-Tar on switch in.

Most of my team is basic/smogon copies. If it means anything I went 6-1 with it today, barely losing the one I lost.

Anyways, here it is:


Infernape (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

I like u-turn more than will-o-wisp because it's easy to get switch momentum which is important for my team.

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Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 24 HP/252 Def/232 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss

Basic special wall. She's okay on my team I'm not sure if I actually need her or it's overkill. Maybe I can play with something else that gives status and has Aromatherapy/Heal Bell because Blissey lack of any offensive pressure is annoying.

I liked thunder wave more than toxic. Losing turns due to luck is crippling.

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Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind

This guy is amazing. Not much else to say.

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Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

With entry hazards it's very easy to pick off people with this guy, and he stops weather teams. I would prefer it if I could save my Tyranitar for later, but I find myself having to switch into him early and taking a hit, and he usually gets 2 hit KO'd because of switching and SR.

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Gengar (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hypnosis
- Thunderbolt

Getting a hypnosis on a switch is pretty amazing. He's really fragile and I find myself not having the right supereffective attack with him a lot of the times.

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Porygon2 (Porygon2) @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP/200 Def/44 SAtk/16 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Toxic

I was running this guy as a random check for a bunch of things, it ***** Salamence and Gyarados, and picking up Serence Grace is always fun. However, I noticed after Skarmory and Gengar, a strong fighting attack would be really hard for my team to deal with, so today I was playing with (instead of Porygon2):

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/116 Def/28 Spd/112 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar
- Reflect

I really like this Latias, way more than the Blissey, and I think it's doing better than Porygon2. Reflect makes him extremely hard to kill, and it's still great when you switch out. Having Reflect up and Roaring is hilarious.

I changed Gengar's Thunderbolt to Hidden Power Ice (make up for the loss of Ice Beam on Porygon2), but I'm thinking maybe Thunderbolt again.

Some issues with this team that I've noticed:

Rapid Spinners - Most of them are dumb and predictably rapid spin as soon as they come in, so I can bring in Gengar, and if I land hypnosis it's game over. Usually rapid spinners have to 2HKO Gengar, but bringing a frail rapid spin blocker can easily lead to my demise against someone good. However, Gengar brings excellent offense and coverage that my team desperately needs, which brings up the next point...

Lack of Offense in general - I know I'm running a stall team, but sometimes I have NO pressure. Especially with Blissey. My lead Infernape can easily be dead by mid-late game, Tyranitar could be dead, and Gengar gets countered by anything that doesn't get 1HKO'd. The only match I lost today was because I spent so much PP fighting a rest talk Suicune that at the very end it was Blissey vs Blissey and I ran out of PP first

Thunder/Fire/Water/Grass Attacks - Yeah, other than Infernape I don't have any of these. It leads to some annoying situations sometimes (ex. Suicune).

A lot of times, things that I don't really have an answer for like Swampert are dealt with by just predicting and avoiding significant damage from him. Eventually he takes enough residual damage and random attacks here and there.

I don't think other people's entry hazards are that big of a deal, except for my frail Gengar and Tyranitar

Anyways I think that's it. Any help would be appreciated thanks

 

[Gates]

I know basic things, but I haven't memorized (for example) how much percent a Timid Celebi w 1 CM will do to a Scarf T-Tar on switch in.
Nobody has that **** memorized. We just use a damage calculator.
http://www.smogon.com/calc/
btw, Celebi will OHKO with Grass Knot and Earth Power, do about 38% with HP Ice, about 20% with HP Fire, and 0% with Psychic because TTar is immune. So for future reference, it would be best to just revenge kill Celebi with TTar or switch in when you know it's going to use one of those moves.

Infernape (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

I like u-turn more than will-o-wisp because it's easy to get switch momentum which is important for my team.
The lack of Fake Out is surprising. Have you found that you are breaking your opponent's Focus Sash by other means or are you facing mostly bulky leads like Swampert that run Leftovers or Lum Berry instead of Sash? Either way it's kind of odd. Other than that it looks fine, though it does seem a bit out of place for a stall team.

Also, Will-O-Wisp is like never used on Infernape. Why did you think it was?

---

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 24 HP/252 Def/232 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss

Basic special wall. She's okay on my team I'm not sure if I actually need her or it's overkill. Maybe I can play with something else that gives status and has Aromatherapy/Heal Bell because Blissey lack of any offensive pressure is annoying.

I liked thunder wave more than toxic. Losing turns due to luck is crippling.
I used to run a cleric Blissey but I gave it up because I also wanted offensive pressure. Try running Flamethrower over Aromatherapy for a little while and see how it goes. You'll probably miss the ability to cure status at first, but you have enough flying types that it shouldn't be too bad.

---

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind

This guy is amazing. Not much else to say.
Standard. Seems solid, though you can screw over other stall teams more by using Taunt instead of Brave Bird and pouring the extra atk EVs into speed.

---

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

With entry hazards it's very easy to pick off people with this guy, and he stops weather teams. I would prefer it if I could save my Tyranitar for later, but I find myself having to switch into him early and taking a hit, and he usually gets 2 hit KO'd because of switching and SR.
Between this guy and Blissey, your team has a decent Scizor weakness with no real way to alleviate it. This is a solid ScarfTar build though.

---

Gengar (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hypnosis
- Thunderbolt

Getting a hypnosis on a switch is pretty amazing. He's really fragile and I find myself not having the right supereffective attack with him a lot of the times.
Having a super effective attack isn't as important as having a neutral or better attack. Gengar's special attack is so high that you can usually do a lot of damage to something on thw switch even when they're not weak to it.

And how often does Hypnosis really land?

---

Porygon2 (Porygon2) @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP/200 Def/44 SAtk/16 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Toxic

I was running this guy as a random check for a bunch of things, it ***** Salamence and Gyarados, and picking up Serence Grace is always fun.
Serene Grace Porygon2 is mad cute, especially if you use Tri Attack. But yes, this does give your team a gigantic fighting weakness. If you really want to run this though, you can remove TTar and put in another flyer to help out.

However, I noticed after Skarmory and Gengar, a strong fighting attack would be really hard for my team to deal with, so today I was playing with (instead of Porygon2):

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/116 Def/28 Spd/112 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar
- Reflect

I really like this Latias, way more than the Blissey, and I think it's doing better than Porygon2. Reflect makes him extremely hard to kill, and it's still great when you switch out. Having Reflect up and Roaring is hilarious.
This is the best defensive Latias set imo. With this spread you shouldn't have trouble dealing with your opponent's threats.

I changed Gengar's Thunderbolt to Hidden Power Ice (make up for the loss of Ice Beam on Porygon2), but I'm thinking maybe Thunderbolt again.
TBolt should work fine. You can still OHKO TTar with TBolt after Stealth Rock and Sandstorm and you can OHKO Latias with Shadow Ball. The only thing that can hurt your Gengar is Gliscor, who can really **** up your whole team with Taunt (and Stone Edge if he uses it).

Some issues with this team that I've noticed:

Rapid Spinners - Most of them are dumb and predictably rapid spin as soon as they come in, so I can bring in Gengar, and if I land hypnosis it's game over. Usually rapid spinners have to 2HKO Gengar, but bringing a frail rapid spin blocker can easily lead to my demise against someone good. However, Gengar brings excellent offense and coverage that my team desperately needs, which brings up the next point...
If you're still at the level where people rapid spin right away, you should know that at high levels of play nobody is that stupid. Forretress will use Payback or Gyro Ball or set up his own entry hazards instead of spinning, Starmie will use TBolt or Hydro Pump, and Tentacruel will set up Toxic Spikes or use Knock Off. All instead of spinning right away. If you want a bulky spinblocker, use a Rotom-A variant. If you want to maintain the speed, use TrickScarf Rotom-A.

And bringing up the fact that most of your opponents spin right away is not helping your 6-1 record since it means you were playing mostly scrubs.

Lack of Offense in general - I know I'm running a stall team, but sometimes I have NO pressure. Especially with Blissey. My lead Infernape can easily be dead by mid-late game, Tyranitar could be dead, and Gengar gets countered by anything that doesn't get 1HKO'd. The only match I lost today was because I spent so much PP fighting a rest talk Suicune that at the very end it was Blissey vs Blissey and I ran out of PP first
For stall teams, Offensive pressure = Bulky phazers. Stall teams generally look like this:

Phazer Lead
Physical Wall
Special Wall
Bulky Spinblocker
Bulky Phazer
Bulky Offensive Threat

Your team looks like this:

Suicide Lead (Infernape)
Physical Wall (Skarmory)
Special Wall (Blissey)
Revenge Killer (Tyranitar)
Offensive Spinblocker (Gengar)
Bulky Phazer (Porygon2/Latias)

Your team is only half stall. If you want to make it full stall you need what I described above.

Thunder/Fire/Water/Grass Attacks - Yeah, other than Infernape I don't have any of these. It leads to some annoying situations sometimes (ex. Suicune).
CroCune can be dealt with best through Phazing and entry hazards as well as Taunt. If you have those you shouldn't need more diversity in attacks.

You claim to be running a stall team yet you worry about things like this which only hyper offensive teams should care about.

A lot of times, things that I don't really have an answer for like Swampert are dealt with by just predicting and avoiding significant damage from him. Eventually he takes enough residual damage and random attacks here and there.

I don't think other people's entry hazards are that big of a deal, except for my frail Gengar and Tyranitar
It's like you just said, prediction and phazing will make it a big deal. But if you're just saying that you don't need a Rapid Spinner, I agree.

This is pretty good for a "first team".

 

[∫unk]

Thank you very much! That was really helpful. I have constructed a new team based on your comments.

If I were to post an updated team, do I keep it in here, update the OP? Should I keep the original team in the OP?

Also, I realize most of my opponents are scrubs. Does rating affect the level of opponent you play? I'm guessing it does. In the beginning I used to click out of a lot of matches due to bad internet connection or them taking too long or dumb stuff happening, but I noticed I'd run into dumb teams a lot. As I started aiming to win every time (and my rating got higher) I notice the opponents are getting gradually harder.

Not all of them immediately rapid spinned, I just remember the bad players because they get ***** so bad on basic reads. I definitely have been Paybacked on a Forre switch in

 

[Gates]

You can post the updated version in the OP.

And yes, rank does determine matchmaking on Shoddy.